Process for producing ethanol using multiple beds each having different catalysts

ABSTRACT

The present invention produces ethanol in a stacked bed reactor that comprises a first catalyst and a second catalyst, wherein the first and second catalysts comprise at least one group VIII metal, and wherein the second catalyst is substantially free of copper. The crude ethanol product may be separated and ethanol recovered.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/094,714, filed Apr. 26, 2011, and a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/178,659, filed Jul. 8, 2011, both of which claims priority to U.S. Provisional App. No. 61/363,056, filed on Jul. 9, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to processes for producing alcohol and, in particular, to forming an ethanol composition by reacting acetic acid and hydrogen using multiple beds that each comprise different catalysts. This allows acetic acid to be converted in a first bed and the reactants thereof, in particular ethyl acetate and/or acetic acid, to be converted in a second bed to ethanol. Preferably, the second bed may tolerate acetic acid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ethanol for industrial use is conventionally produced from organic feed stocks, such as petroleum oil, natural gas, or coal, from feed stock intermediates, such as syngas, or from starchy materials or cellulose materials, such as corn or sugar cane. Conventional methods for producing ethanol from organic feed stocks, as well as from cellulose materials, include the acid-catalyzed hydration of ethylene, methanol homologation, direct alcohol synthesis, and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Instability in organic feed stock prices contributes to fluctuations in the cost of conventionally produced ethanol, making the need for alternative sources of ethanol production all the greater when feed stock prices rise. Starchy materials, as well as cellulose materials, are converted to ethanol by fermentation. However, fermentation is typically used for consumer production of ethanol, which is suitable for fuels or human consumption. In addition, fermentation of starchy or cellulose materials competes with food sources and places restraints on the amount of ethanol that can be produced for industrial use.

Ethanol production via the reduction of alkanoic acids and/or other carbonyl group-containing compounds, including esters, has been widely studied, and a variety of combinations of catalysts, supports, and operating conditions have been mentioned in the literature.

More recently, even though it may not still be commercially viable it has been reported that ethanol can be produced from hydrogenating acetic acid using a cobalt catalyst at superatmospheric pressures such as about 40 to 120 bar, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,391.

On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,680 describes a process for the catalytic hydrogenation of carboxylic acids and their anhydrides to alcohols and/or esters utilizing a platinum group metal alloy catalyst. The catalyst is comprised of an alloy of at least one noble metal of Group VIII of the Periodic Table and at least one metal capable of alloying with the Group VIII noble metal, admixed with a component comprising at least one of the metals rhenium, tungsten or molybdenum. Although it has been claimed therein that improved selectivity to a mixture of alcohol and its ester with the unreacted carboxylic acid is achieved over the prior art references it was still reported that 3 to 9 percent of alkanes, such as methane and ethane are formed as by-products during the hydrogenation of acetic acid to ethanol under their optimal catalyst conditions.

A slightly modified process for the preparation of ethyl acetate by hydrogenating acetic acid has been reported in EP0372847. In this process, a carboxylic acid ester, such as for example, ethyl acetate is produced at a selectivity of greater than 50% while producing the corresponding alcohol at a selectivity less than 10% from a carboxylic acid or anhydride thereof by reacting the acid or anhydride with hydrogen at elevated temperature in the presence of a catalyst composition comprising as a first component at least one of Group VIII noble metal and a second component comprising at least one of molybdenum, tungsten and rhenium and a third component comprising an oxide of a Group IVB element. However, even the optimal conditions reported therein result in significant amounts of by-products including methane, ethane, acetaldehyde and acetone in addition to ethanol. In addition, the conversion of acetic acid is generally low and is in the range of about 5 to 40% except for a few cases in which the conversion reached as high as 80%.

Copper-iron catalysts for hydrogenolyzing esters to alcohols are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,592. A hydrogenolysis catalyst comprising nickel, tin, germanium and/or lead is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,130. A rhodium hydrogenolysis catalyst that also contains tin, germanium and/or lead is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,775.

Several processes that produce ethanol from acetates, including methyl acetate and ethyl acetate, are known in the literature.

WO8303409 describes producing ethanol by carbonylation of methanol by reaction with carbon monoxide in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst to form acetic acid which is then converted to an acetate ester followed by hydrogenolysis of the acetate ester formed to give ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and another alcohol which can be separated by distillation. Preferably the other alcohol or part of the ethanol recovered from the hydrogenolysis step is recycled for further esterification. Carbonylation can be effected using a CO/H₂ mixture and hydrogenolysis can similarly be conducted in the presence of carbon monoxide, leading to the possibility of circulating gas between the carbonylation and hydrogenolysis zones with synthesis gas, preferably a 2:1 H₂:CO molar mixture being used as makeup gas.

WO2009063174 describes a continuous process for the production of ethanol from a carbonaceous feedstock. The carbonaceous feedstock is first converted to synthesis gas which is then converted to ethanoic acid, which is then esterified and hydrogenated to produce ethanol.

WO2009009320 describes an indirect route for producing ethanol. Carbohydrates are fermented under homoacidogenic conditions to form acetic acid. The acetic acid is esterified with a primary alcohol having at least 4 carbon atoms and hydrogenating the ester to form ethanol.

EP2060555 describes a process for producing ethanol where a carbonaceous feedstock is converted to synthesis gas which is converted to ethanoic acid, which is then esterified and which is then hydrogenated to produce ethanol. EP2072489 and EP2186787 also describe a similar process where the esters produced from esterification are fed to the alcohol synthesis reactor used to produce ethanol and methanol.

US Pub. No. 20110046421 describes a process for producing ethanol comprising converting carbonaceous feedstock to syngas and converting the syngas to methanol. Methanol is carbonylated to ethanoic acid, which is then subjected to a two stage hydrogenation process. First the ethanoic acid is converted to ethyl ethanoate followed by a secondary hydrogenation to ethanol.

US Pub. No. 20100273229 describes a process for producing acetic acid intermediate from carbohydrates, such as corn, using enzymatic milling and fermentation steps. The acetic acid intermediate is acidified with calcium carbonate and the acetic acid is esterified to produce esters. Ethanol is produced by a hydrogenolysis reaction of the ester.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,161 describes a process for producing ethanol by a gas phase carbonylation of methanol with carbon monoxide followed by a hydrogenation. The carbonylation produces acetic acid and methyl acetate, which are separated and the methyl acetate is hydrogenated to produce ethanol in the presence of a copper-containing catalyst.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,967 describes a process for producing ethanol from methanol by first esterifying the methanol with acetic acid. The methyl acetate is carbonylated to produce acetic anhydride which is then reacted with one or more aliphatic alcohols to produce acetates. The acetates are hydrogenated to produce ethanol. The one or more aliphatic alcohols formed during hydrogenation are returned to the acetic anhydride esterification reaction.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,358 describes a process for producing ethanol from methanol. Methanol is carbonylated to produce methyl acetate and acetic acid. The methyl acetate is recovered and hydrogenated to produce methanol and ethanol. Ethanol is recovered by separating the methanol/ethanol mixture. The separated methanol is returned to the carbonylation process.

The need remains for improved processes for efficient ethanol production by reducing esters on a commercially feasible scale.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first embodiment, the present invention is directed to a process for producing ethanol comprising introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a multiple bed reactor that comprises a first bed comprising a first catalyst and a second bed comprising a second catalyst to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first catalyst and the second catalyst are different and each comprises at least one Group VIII metal or oxide thereof on a support, wherein the Group VIII metal is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium. The process also involves recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.

In a second embodiment, the present invention is directed to a process for producing ethanol, comprising introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a multiple bed reactor that comprises a first bed comprising a first catalyst and a second bed comprising a second catalyst to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first catalyst comprises one or more active metals on a first support, and the second catalyst comprises at least one Group VIII metal or oxide thereof on a second support that comprises tungsten or an oxide thereof, wherein the Group VIII metal is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, or iridium, provided that the first catalyst is different from the second catalyst, and recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.

In a third embodiment, the present invention is directed to a process for producing ethanol, comprising introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a first bed of a multiple bed reactor to produce a reaction stream that comprises acetic acid, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and hydrogen, introducing the reaction stream into a second bed of the multiple bed reactor to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first bed comprises a first catalyst and the second bed comprises a second catalyst that is different from the first catalyst and the second catalyst is substantially free of copper, and recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a hydrogenation process having a multiple bed reactor and four columns in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another hydrogenation process having a multiple bed reactor with two columns and an intervening water removal in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of yet another hydrogenation process having a multiple bed reactor with three columns in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of yet another hydrogenation process having a multiple bed reactor with a single column in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of yet another hydrogenation process having a multiple bed reactor with a heavy ends column in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to processes for producing ethanol using multiple beds each comprising a different catalyst. In one preferred embodiment, each catalyst may comprise a Group VIII metal, preferably cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, or iridium. Preferably, the catalysts are capable of converting acetic acid to ethanol and may also be capable for converting ethyl acetate to ethanol. In one embodiment, the catalyst in the second bed may be capable of converting ethyl acetate to ethanol, via hydrogenolysis, in the presence of acetic acid.

One problem for converting ethyl acetate to ethanol is that the catalyst, and in particular conventional copper-based catalysts, may be deactivated in the presence of acetic acid and/or water, thus causing decreased performance in converting ethyl acetate to ethanol. Thus, the amount of acetic acid needs to be reduced by high acetic acid conversion in the first bed or by separating out the acetic acid prior to the second bed. Embodiments of the present invention overcome this problem by using catalysts in the second bed that are capable of converting ethyl acetate to ethanol in the presence of acetic acid. In one embodiment, the amount of acetic acid presence in the second bed may be from 0.5 to 80 wt. %, e.g., from 1 to 65 wt. % or from 5 to 50 wt. %. Thus, the present invention does not need to react substantially all of the acetic acid in the first bed and may allow a portion of the acetic acid to pass along into the second bed. Preferably, the acetic acid fed to the second bed may also be converted to ethanol.

Each catalyst may be a hydrogenation catalyst capable of reducing a carboxylic acid or ester thereof to an alcohol. Preferably, there are at least two or more beds. When more than two beds are used there may be additional catalysts in the other beds that are different from the catalysts in the first and second reactor beds. The multiple bed reactor of the present invention may be referred to as a “stacked reactor” in which the multiple beds are adjacent and the stream passes from one bed to the next without further separation.

Embodiments of the present invention provide advantageous solutions to these problems to provide for effective ethanol production. In the first bed the conversion of acetic acid may be sufficient to convert acetic acid to ethanol and ethyl acetate. The reactor stream passes from the first bed to the second bed without any purges of acetic acid or separation of the reactor stream. In one embodiment, hydrogen is fed, preferably in excess to the first bed, and any remaining hydrogen passes along in the reactor stream to the second bed. In one embodiment of the present invention, the process may convert ethyl acetate and/or acetic acid in the second bed. This allows the process of the present invention to efficiently produce ethanol from acetic acid.

In one embodiment, the feed stream to the first bed comprises acetic acid. Preferably the acetic acid concentration is greater than 95 wt. %, greater than 97 wt. % or greater than 99 wt. %. The acetic acid feed stream may comprise other organics, including aldehydes, ketones, and esters. In one embodiment, the acetic acid feed stream may be substantially free of ethyl acetate. Hydrogen may be fed separately or with the acetic acid. In some embodiments, there may be a mixed feed stream of acetic acid and ethyl acetate. For example ethyl acetate may be separated from the crude ethanol product and recycled in part to the first bed. When a mixed feed stream is used, the acetic acid may be converted in the first bed and the ethyl acetate may be converted in the second bed. In one embodiment, the feed stream comprises from 5 to 40 wt. % ethyl acetate and from 60 to 95 wt. % acetic acid, and more preferably from 10 to 30 wt. % ethyl acetate and 70 to 90 wt. % acetic acid. In one embodiment, the feed stream comprises 30 wt. % ethyl acetate and 70 wt. % acetic acid. In another embodiment, the feed stream comprises 15 wt. % ethyl acetate and 85 wt. % acetic acid. In still another embodiment, the feed stream comprises 5 wt. % ethyl acetate and 95 wt. % acetic acid.

In one embodiment, the first bed may have a greater bed volume than the other beds, and, preferably, the bed volume of the first bed may be at least 1.5 times larger than the other beds, and more preferably at least 2 times larger or at least 2.5 times larger. Without being bound by theory, a larger first bed may ensure that acetic acid is consumed in a sufficient manner.

In one embodiment, the hydrogenation in the multiple bed reactor may achieve favorable conversion of acetic acid and ethyl acetate. For the purposes of the present invention, the term “conversion” refers to the net change of the flow of acetic acid or ethyl acetate into the multiple bed reactor as compared to the flow of acetic acid or ethyl acetate out of the multiple bed reactor. The net change may represent that the acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate are converted to a compound other than acetic acid or ethyl acetate, respectively. Conversion is expressed as a percentage based on acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate in the feed. In one embodiment, the conversion of acetic acid in the first bed may be at least 10%, e.g., at least 20%, at least 40%, at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70% or at least 80%. In one embodiment, the conversion of acetic acid in the second bed may be at least 5%, e.g., at least 10%, at least 20%, or at least 40%. In some embodiments, the acetic acid conversion in the second bed may be at least 90%, e.g., at least 95% or at least 98%. The conversion of acetic acid in the second bed may be higher than the conversion of acetic acid in the first bed. Preferably, the total conversion of acetic acid in the multiple bed reactor is at least 60%, e.g., at least 70%, at least 80% or at least 90%.

During the hydrogenation of acetic acid in the first bed, ethyl acetate may be produced and further converted in the second bed to ethanol. In addition, if any ethyl acetate is also present in the feed to the first bed, the ethyl acetate may be reacted or passed along to the second bed. Thus, negative conversions of ethyl acetate, i.e. where there is a net production of ethyl acetate, may be tolerated in the first bed provided that the second bed converts the ethyl acetate to ethanol and there is no net increase of ethyl acetate across the multiple bed reactor. The conversion of ethyl acetate in the second bed may be greater than 5%, e.g., greater than 10%, greater than 20%, or greater than 30%. In an exemplary embodiment, the conversion of ethyl acetate in the second bed may range from 5 to 98%, e.g., from 10 to 95% or from 20 to 90%. Although catalysts and reaction conditions that have high conversions may be possible, such as greater than 90% or greater than 95%, in some embodiments a low conversion may be acceptable at high selectivity for ethanol in the second reactor bed.

In one aspect, acetic acid is converted to ethanol and ethyl acetate in the first reactor bed. The selectivity to ethanol may be greater than ethyl acetate and the reactor stream from the first reactor bed contains lower ethyl acetate concentrations, based on weight. Thus, the second reactor bed may react the remaining ethyl acetate while allowing a majority of the ethanol to pass through.

In another aspect, acetic acid is converted mainly to ethyl acetate with low ethanol concentrations, based on weight, in the first reactor bed. In these embodiments, the second reactor bed may be used to convert the ethyl acetate to ethanol.

As stated above, the multiple bed reactor may comprise different catalysts in each of the beds. The catalyst of the present invention used in the first bed should be capable of converting acetic acid to ethyl acetate and ethanol and the catalysts in the second bed should be capable converting ethyl acetate to ethanol, preferably in the presence of acetic acid. The catalyst in the second bed may also be capable of converting acetic acid to ethanol. In some embodiments, each catalyst may comprise similar active metals, but the active metals may be present on different supports or contain different support modifiers. In one preferred embodiment, the active metal of each catalyst may comprise a Group VIII metal, preferably cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, or iridium. More preferably, the Group VIII metal comprises cobalt, platinum, palladium, or combinations thereof. In terms of ranges, the catalyst may comprise a Group VIII metal in an amount from 0.05 to 25 wt. %, e.g. from 0.1 to 20 wt. %, or from 0.1 to 15 wt. %, based on the total weight of the catalyst. When the catalyst comprises rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, or iridium, the metal loading may be less than 5 wt. %, e.g., less than 3 wt. %, less than 1 wt. % or less than 0.5 wt. %. When the catalyst comprises cobalt, the metal loading of cobalt may be greater than 5 wt. %, e.g., greater than 7 wt. %, greater than 10 wt. %, or greater than 20 wt. %. Preferably, cobalt is present in an amount of less than 25 wt. %.

Suitable catalysts for the present invention in the first bed for converting acetic acid to ethanol may include the cobalt and platinum/tin catalysts described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,608,744, 7,863,489, and 8,080,694, and US Pub. Nos. 2010/0197985, 2011/0098501, and 2011/0082322, the entire contents and disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. Suitable catalysts for the present invention in the first bed for converting acetic acid to ethyl acetate may include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,820,852, and US Pub. No. 2010/0197959, the entire contents and disclosures of which are incorporated by reference. Those catalysts include at least one metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, platinum and palladium and at least one metal selected from copper and cobalt on a support selected from the group consisting of H-ZSM-5, silica, alumina, silica-alumina, calcium silicate, carbon, and mixtures thereof. In addition, nickel/molybdenum, palladium/molybdenum, or platinum/molybdenum on H-ZSM-5 may also convert acetic acid to ethyl acetate.

In one embodiment, the catalysts in each of the beds of the multiple bed reactor may comprise one or more active metals selected from the group consisting of cobalt, copper, gold, iron, nickel, palladium, platinum, iridium, osmium, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, tin, zinc, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, and oxides thereof. The catalyst may comprise two active metals or three active metals. The first metal or oxides thereof may be selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium and gold. The second metal or oxides thereof may be selected from the group consisting of copper, iron, tin, cobalt, nickel, zinc, and molybdenum. The third metal or oxides thereof, if present, may be selected from the group consisting of copper, molybdenum, tin, chromium, iron, cobalt, vanadium, palladium, platinum, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, ruthenium, rhenium, gold, and nickel. Preferably, the third metal is different than the first metal and the second metal. In addition, the first metal and the second metal may be different, and the third metal and the second metal may be different.

In one embodiment, it is preferred that the second bed does not contain a copper-based catalyst and may be a catalyst that is substantially free of copper. However, copper may be present when used in combination with a Group VIII metal in the second bed or may be present in the first bed. Thus, the preferred first, second, and optionally third metals may be as follows for the second catalyst. The first metal or oxides thereof may be selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium and gold. The second metal or oxides thereof may be selected from the group consisting of iron, tin, cobalt, nickel, zinc, and molybdenum. The third metal or oxides thereof, if present, may be selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, tin, chromium, iron, cobalt, vanadium, palladium, platinum, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, ruthenium, rhenium, gold, and nickel.

The metal loadings of the first, second, and optionally third metals are as follows. The first active metal may be present in the catalyst in an amount from 0.05 to 20 wt. %, e.g. from 0.1 to 10 wt. %, or from 0.5 to 5 wt. %. The second active metal may be present in an amount from 0.05 to 20 wt. %, e.g., from 0.1 to 10 wt. %, or from 0.5 to 5 wt. %. If the catalyst further comprises a third active metal, the third active metal may be present in an amount from 0.05 to 20 wt. %, e.g., from 0.05 to 10 wt. %, or from 0.05 to 3 wt. %. The active metals may be alloyed with one another or may comprise a non-alloyed metal solution, a metal mixture or be present as one or more metal oxides.

Bimetallic catalysts for some exemplary catalyst compositions include platinum/tin, platinum/ruthenium, platinum/rhenium, platinum/cobalt, platinum/nickel, palladium/ruthenium, palladium/rhenium, palladium/cobalt, palladium/copper, palladium/nickel, ruthenium/cobalt, gold/palladium, ruthenium/rhenium, ruthenium/iron, rhodium/iron, rhodium/cobalt, rhodium/nickel, cobalt/tin, and rhodium/tin. More preferred bimetallic catalysts include platinum/tin, platinum/cobalt, platinum/nickel, palladium/cobalt, palladium/copper, palladium/nickel, ruthenium/cobalt, ruthenium/iron, rhodium/iron, rhodium/cobalt, rhodium/nickel, cobalt/tin, and rhodium/tin.

In some embodiments, the catalyst may be a tertiary catalyst that comprises three active metals on a support. Exemplary tertiary catalysts may include palladium/tin/rhenium, palladium/cobalt/rhenium, palladium/nickel/rhenium, palladium/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/palladium, platinum/tin/rhodium, platinum/tin/gold, platinum/tin/iridium, platinum/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/chromium, platinum/tin/copper, platinum/tin/zinc, platinum/tin/nickel, rhodium/nickel/tin, rhodium/cobalt/tin and rhodium/iron/tin. More preferably, a tertiary catalyst comprises three active metals may include palladium/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/palladium, platinum/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/chromium, platinum/tin/copper, platinum/tin/nickel, rhodium/nickel/tin, rhodium/cobalt/tin and rhodium/iron/tin.

In one preferred embodiment, the tertiary combination comprises cobalt or tin or both cobalt and tin, and at least one other active metal. Catalysts containing both cobalt and tin may comprise a substantially equal molar ratio of cobalt and tin, that is, in a molar ratio from 1.2:1 to 1:1.2 and more preferably a molar ratio of 1:1.

The catalysts in each of the bed may be on any suitable support material. In one embodiment, the support material may be an inorganic oxide. In one embodiment, the support material may be selected from the group consisting of silica, silica/alumina, calcium metasilicate, pyrogenic silica, high purity silica, carbon, activated carbon, alumina, titiana, zirconia, graphite, zeolites, and mixtures thereof. Zeolites may include high silica zeolites (HSZ™ Tosoh Products) that contain more silica than alumina. Silica gel may be used as a precursor for preparing silica containing supports. Preferably, the support material comprises silica, or silica/alumina. In one embodiment the first catalyst preferably does not contain a zeolite support. In preferred embodiments, the support material for the first catalyst is present in an amount from 25 wt. % to 99 wt. %, e.g., from 30 wt. % to 98 wt. % or from 35 wt. % to 95 wt. %.

In some embodiments, the support material of the first catalyst and second catalyst is not preferably different. For example the support material of the first catalyst may be silica/alumina and the support material of the second catalyst may be silica.

The surface area of silicaceous support material, e.g., silica, preferably is at least 50 m²/g, e.g., at least 100 m²/g, at least 150 m²/g, at least 200 m²/g or most preferably at least 250 m²/g. In terms of ranges, the silicaceous support material preferably has a surface area from 50 to 600 m²/g, e.g., from 100 to 500 m²/g or from 100 to 300 m²/g. High surface area silica, as used throughout the application, refers to silica having a surface area of at least 250 m²/g. For purposes of the present specification, surface area refers to BET nitrogen surface area, meaning the surface area as determined by ASTM D6556-04, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The silicaceous support material also preferably has an average pore diameter from 5 to 100 nm, e.g., from 5 to 30 nm, from 5 to 25 nm or from about 5 to 10 nm, as determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry, and an average pore volume from 0.5 to 2.0 cm³/g, e.g., from 0.7 to 1.5 cm³/g or from about 0.8 to 1.3 cm³/g, as determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry.

The morphology of the support material, and hence of the resulting catalyst composition, may vary widely. In some exemplary embodiments, the morphology of the support material and/or of the catalyst composition may be pellets, extrudates, spheres, spray dried microspheres, rings, pentarings, trilobes, quadrilobes, multi-lobal shapes, or flakes although cylindrical pellets are preferred. Preferably, the silicaceous support material has a morphology that allows for a packing density from 0.1 to 1.0 g/cm³, e.g., from 0.2 to 0.9 g/cm³ or from 0.5 to 0.8 g/cm³. In terms of size, the silica support material preferably has an average particle size, e.g., meaning the diameter for spherical particles or equivalent spherical diameter for non-spherical particles, from 0.01 to 1.0 cm, e.g., from 0.1 to 0.5 cm or from 0.2 to 0.4 cm. Since the one or more active metal(s) that are disposed on or within the support are generally very small in size, those active metals should not substantially impact the size of the overall catalyst particles. Thus, the above particle sizes generally apply to both the size of the support as well as to the final catalyst particles.

A preferred silica support material is SS61138 High Surface Area (HSA) Silica Catalyst Carrier from Saint-Gobain N or Pro. The Saint-Gobain N or Pro SS61138 silica contains approximately 95 wt. % high surface area silica; a surface area of about 250 m²/g; a median pore diameter of about 12 nm; an average pore volume of about 1.0 cm³/g as measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry and a packing density of about 0.352 g/cm³.

A preferred silica/alumina support material is KA-160 (Süd Chemie) silica spheres having a nominal diameter of about 5 mm, a density of about 0.562 g/ml, in absorptivity of about 0.583 g H₂O/g support, a surface area of about 160 to 175 m²/g, and a pore volume of about 0.68 ml/g.

The support material for the first catalyst may also comprise a support modifier. In one preferred embodiment, the catalyst in the second bed may comprise tungsten or an oxide thereof In another embodiment, cobalt and tin may be added to the support as a support modifier, optionally with tungsten, before the addition of the active metals. In one embodiment, the total weight of the support modifiers are present in an amount from 0.1 wt. % to 50 wt. %, e.g., from 0.2 wt. % to 25 wt. %, from 0.5 wt. % to 15 wt. %, or from 1 wt. % to 8 wt. %, based on the total weight of the catalyst.

Support modifiers may adjust the acidity of the support for the first catalyst. For example, the acid sites, e.g. Brønsted acid sites, on the support material may be adjusted by the support modifier to favor selectivity to ethanol during the hydrogenation of acetic acid. The acidity of the support material may be adjusted by reducing the number or reducing the availability of Brønsted acid sites on the support material. The support material may also be adjusted by having the support modifier change the pKa of the support material. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the acidity of a surface or the number of acid sites thereupon may be determined by the technique described in F. Delannay, Ed., “Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts”; Chapter III: Measurement of Acidity of Surfaces, p. 370-404; Marcel Dekker, Inc., N.Y. 1984, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the use of modified supports that adjusts the acidity of the support to make the support less acidic or more basic favors formation of ethanol over other hydrogenation products.

In some embodiments, the support modifier may be an acidic modifier that increases the acidity of the catalyst. Suitable acidic support modifiers may be selected from the group consisting of: oxides of Group IVB metals, oxides of Group VB metals, oxides of Group VIB metals, oxides of Group VIIB metals, oxides of Group VIII metals, aluminum oxides, and mixtures thereof. Acidic support modifiers include those selected from the group consisting of TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, P₂O₅, and Sb₂O₃. Preferred acidic support modifiers include those selected from the group consisting of TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, and Al₂O₃. The acidic modifier may also include those selected from the group consisting of WO₃, MoO₃, Fe₂O₃, Cr₂O₃, V₂O₅, MnO₂, CuO, CO₂O₃, and Bi₂O₃.

In another embodiment, the support modifier may be a basic modifier that has a low volatility or no volatility. Such basic modifiers, for example, may be selected from the group consisting of: (i) alkaline earth metal oxides, (ii) alkali metal oxides, (iii) alkaline earth metal metasilicates, (iv) alkali metal metasilicates, (v) Group IIB metal oxides, (vi) Group IIB metal metasilicates, (vii) Group IIIB metal oxides, (viii) Group IIIB metal metasilicates, and mixtures thereof. In addition to oxides and metasilicates, other types of modifiers including nitrates, nitrites, acetates, and lactates may be used. Preferably, the support modifier is selected from the group consisting of oxides and metasilicates of any of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, scandium, yttrium, and zinc, as well as mixtures of any of the foregoing. More preferably, the basic support modifier is a calcium silicate, and even more preferably calcium metasilicate (CaSiO₃). If the basic support modifier comprises calcium metasilicate, at least a portion of the calcium metasilicate may be present in crystalline form.

Catalyst that are suitable for converting ethyl acetate to ethanol in the presence of acetic, include but are not limited to, a platinum/cobalt/tin on a silica support modified with tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, vanadium, or an oxide thereof.

In one exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support, in which the silica support comprises tungsten or an oxide thereof. In another exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support. In another exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise cobalt and tin on a silica support. In another exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise platinum, cobalt and tin on a silica support. In another exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise platinum, cobalt and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier. In another exemplary embodiment, the catalyst of the first bed may comprise platinum and tin on a silica support that comprises a calcium metasilicate support modifier and the catalyst of the second bed may comprise platinum, cobalt and tin on a silica support, in which the silica support comprises tungsten or an oxide thereof. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to these exemplary embodiments of catalysts in the multiple bed reactor and different catalysts and combinations may also be used.

The reactants, acetic acid and hydrogen, pass through the first bed containing the first catalyst to produce a reactor stream. Hydrogen preferably passes through the first bed in the reactor stream so that it be may be consumed in the second bed. In one embodiment, there is no separate hydrogen feed to the second bed. Depending on the selectivity, the reactor stream may comprise ethanol and ethyl acetate or mainly ethyl acetate. The reactor stream is passed over the second bed that contains the second catalyst. It should be understood that a multiple bed reactor may have one or more first beds and one or more second beds. Preferably, in the multiple bed reactor, the first and second beds may be stacked so as to be adjacent. This may allow the reactor stream from the first bed passes directly into the second bed.

In one embodiment, both the first and second beds may be in one vessel. In other embodiments, the multiple bed reactor may comprise separate vessels, each containing a first or second bed. The catalyst loading in the first and second bed may vary. In terms of a volumetric ratio the first bed may contain more catalyst than the second bed, e.g., greater than 1.5:1, or greater than 2:1. In many embodiments of the present invention, an “adiabatic” multiple bed reactor may be used; that is, there is little or no need for internal plumbing through the reaction zone to add or remove heat.

The hydrogenation in the multiple bed reactor may be carried out in either the liquid phase or vapor phase. Preferably, the reaction is carried out in the vapor phase under the following conditions. The reaction conditions are generally similar in each bed of the multiple bed reactor. In some embodiments, the first bed may be operated at a slightly greater temperature than the second bed to produce a mixture of ethyl acetate and ethanol. The reaction temperature may range from 125° C. to 350° C., e.g., from 200° C. to 325° C., from 225° C. to 300° C., or from 250° C. to 300° C. The pressure may range from 10 kPa to 3000 kPa, e.g., from 50 kPa to 2300 kPa, or from 100 kPa to 1500 kPa. The reactants may be fed to the multiple bed reactor at a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of greater than 500 hr⁻¹, e.g., greater than 1000 hr⁻¹, greater than 2500 hr⁻¹ or even greater than 5000 hr⁻¹. In terms of ranges the GHSV may range from 50 hr⁻¹ to 50,000 hr⁻¹, e.g., from 500 hr⁻¹ to 30,000 hr⁻¹, from 1000 hr⁻¹ to 10,000 hr⁻¹, or from 1000 hr⁻¹ to 6500 hr⁻¹.

The hydrogenation optionally is carried out at a pressure just sufficient to overcome the pressure drop across the catalytic bed at the GHSV selected, although there is no bar to the use of higher pressures, it being understood that considerable pressure drop through the reactor bed may be experienced at high space velocities, e.g., 5000 hr⁻¹ or 6,500 hr⁻¹.

Although the reaction consumes two moles of hydrogen per mole of acetic acid to produce one mole of ethanol, the actual molar ratio of hydrogen to acetic acid in the feed stream may vary from about 100:1 to 1:100, e.g., from 50:1 to 1:50, from 20:1 to 1:2, or from 12:1 to 1:1. Most preferably, the molar ratio of hydrogen to acetic acid is greater than 2:1, e.g., greater than 4:1 or greater than 8:1.

Contact or residence time can also vary widely, depending upon such variables as amount of acetic acid, catalyst, reactor, temperature, and pressure. Typical contact times range from a fraction of a second to more than several hours when a catalyst system other than a fixed bed is used, with preferred contact times, at least for vapor phase reactions, from 0.1 to 100 seconds, e.g., from 0.3 to 80 seconds or from 0.4 to 30 seconds.

Selectivity is expressed as a mole percent based on converted acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate fed to the first reactor bed. It should be understood that each compound converted from acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate has an independent selectivity and that selectivity is independent from conversion. For example, if 60 mole % of the converted acetic acid is converted to ethanol, we refer to the ethanol selectivity as 60%. Total selectivity is based on the combined converted acetic acid and ethyl acetate. Preferably, the catalyst total selectivity to ethanol is at least 60%, e.g., at least 70%, or at least 80%. Preferably, the total selectivity to ethanol is at least 80%, e.g., at least 85% or at least 88%. Preferred embodiments of the hydrogenation process also have low selectivity to undesirable products, such as methane, ethane, and carbon dioxide. The selectivity to these undesirable products preferably is less than 4%, e.g., less than 2% or less than 1%. More preferably, these undesirable products are present in undetectable amounts. Formation of alkanes may be low, and ideally less than 2%, less than 1%, or less than 0.5% of the acetic acid passed over the catalyst is converted to alkanes, which have little value other than as fuel.

In one embodiment, when an acetic acid stream is fed to the multiple bed reactor, the overall selectivity to methyl acetate is less than 5%, e.g., less than 3% or more preferably less than 2%. In one embodiment, substantially no methyl acetate is formed in the multiple bed reactor.

The term “productivity,” as used herein, refers to the grams of a specified product, e.g., ethanol, formed during the hydrogenation based on the kilograms of catalyst used per hour. For purposes of the present invention, productivity includes both the first and second catalyst. A productivity of at least 100 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour, e.g., at least 400 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour or at least 600 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour, is preferred. In terms of ranges, the productivity preferably is from 100 to 3,000 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour, e.g., from 400 to 2,500 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour or from 600 to 2,000 grams of ethanol per kilogram of catalyst per hour.

Operating under the conditions of the present invention may result in ethanol production on the order of at least 0.1 tons of ethanol per hour, e.g., at least 1 ton of ethanol per hour, at least 5 tons of ethanol per hour, or at least 10 tons of ethanol per hour. Larger scale industrial production of ethanol, depending on the scale, generally should be at least 1 ton of ethanol per hour, e.g., at least 15 tons of ethanol per hour or at least 30 tons of ethanol per hour. In terms of ranges, for large scale industrial production of ethanol, the process of the present invention may produce from 0.1 to 160 tons of ethanol per hour, e.g., from 15 to 160 tons of ethanol per hour or from 30 to 80 tons of ethanol per hour. Ethanol production from fermentation, due the economies of scale, typically does not permit the single facility ethanol production that may be achievable by employing embodiments of the present invention.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the crude ethanol product produced by the hydrogenation process, before any subsequent processing, such as purification and separation, will typically comprise ethanol and water. Exemplary compositional ranges for the crude ethanol product are provided in Table 1. The “others” identified in Table 1 may include, for example, esters, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, alkanes, higher alcohols, and carbon dioxide.

TABLE 1 CRUDE ETHANOL PRODUCT COMPOSITIONS Conc. Conc. Conc. Conc. Component (wt. %) (wt. %) (wt. %) (wt. %) Ethanol 5 to 72 15 to 72  15 to 70 25 to 65 Acetic Acid 0 to 90 0 to 50  0 to 35  0 to 15 Water 5 to 40 5 to 30 10 to 30 10 to 26 Ethyl Acetate 0 to 30 0 to 20  1 to 12  3 to 10 Acetaldehyde 0 to 10 0 to 3  0.1 to 3   0.2 to 2   Others 0.1 to 10   0.1 to 6   0.1 to 4   —

In one embodiment, the crude ethanol product comprises acetic acid in an amount less than 20 wt. %, e.g., less than 15 wt. %, less than 10 wt. % or less than 5 wt. %. In terms of ranges, the acetic acid concentration of Table 1 may range from 0.1 wt. % to 20 wt. %, e.g., 0.2 wt. % to 15 wt. %, from 0.5 wt. % to 10 wt. % or from 1 wt. % to 5 wt. %. In embodiments having lower amounts of acetic acid, the conversion of acetic acid is preferably greater than 75%, e.g., greater than 85% or greater than 90%. In addition, the selectivity to ethanol may also be preferably high, and is preferably greater than 75%, e.g., greater than 85% or greater than 90%.

The raw materials, acetic acid and hydrogen, used in connection with the process of this invention may be derived from any suitable source including natural gas, petroleum, coal, biomass, and so forth. As examples, acetic acid may be produced via methanol carbonylation, acetaldehyde oxidation, ethylene oxidation, oxidative fermentation, and anaerobic fermentation. Methanol carbonylation processes suitable for production of acetic acid are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,208,624; 7,115,772; 7,005,541; 6,657,078; 6,627,770; 6,143,930; 5,599,976; 5,144,068; 5,026,908; 5,001,259; and 4,994,608, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Optionally, the production of ethanol may be integrated with such methanol carbonylation processes.

As petroleum and natural gas prices fluctuate becoming either more or less expensive, methods for producing acetic acid and intermediates such as methanol and carbon monoxide from alternate carbon sources have drawn increasing interest. In particular, when petroleum is relatively expensive, it may become advantageous to produce acetic acid from synthesis gas (“syngas”) that is derived from other available carbon source. U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,352, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference, for example, teaches a method of retrofitting a methanol plant for the manufacture of acetic acid. By retrofitting a methanol plant, the large capital costs associated with CO generation for a new acetic acid plant are significantly reduced or largely eliminated. All or part of the syngas is diverted from the methanol synthesis loop and supplied to a separator unit to recover CO, which is then used to produce acetic acid. In a similar manner, hydrogen for the hydrogenation step may be supplied from syngas.

In some embodiments, some or all of the raw materials for the above-described acetic acid hydrogenation process may be derived partially or entirely from syngas. For example, the acetic acid may be formed from methanol and carbon monoxide, both of which may be derived from syngas. The syngas may be formed by partial oxidation reforming or steam reforming, and the carbon monoxide may be separated from syngas. Similarly, hydrogen that is used in the step of hydrogenating the acetic acid to form the crude ethanol product may be separated from syngas. The syngas, in turn, may be derived from variety of carbon sources. The carbon source, for example, may be selected from the group consisting of natural gas, oil, petroleum, coal, biomass, and combinations thereof. Syngas or hydrogen may also be obtained from bio-derived methane gas, such as bio-derived methane gas produced by landfills or agricultural waste.

In another embodiment, the acetic acid used in the hydrogenation step may be formed from the fermentation of biomass. The fermentation process preferably utilizes an acetogenic process or a homoacetogenic microorganism to ferment sugars to acetic acid producing little, if any, carbon dioxide as a by-product. The carbon efficiency for the fermentation process preferably is greater than 70%, greater than 80% or greater than 90% as compared to conventional yeast processing, which typically has a carbon efficiency of about 67%. Optionally, the microorganism employed in the fermentation process is of a genus selected from the group consisting of Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Moorella, Thermoanaerobacter, Propionibacterium, Propionispera, Anaerobiospirillum, and Bacteriodes, and in particular, species selected from the group consisting of Clostridium formicoaceticum, Clostridium butyricum, Moorella thermoacetica, Thermoanaerobacter kivui, Lactobacillus delbrukii, Propionibacterium acidipropionici, Propionispera arboris, Anaerobiospirillum succinicproducens, Bacteriodes amylophilus and Bacteriodes ruminicola. Optionally in this process, all or a portion of the unfermented residue from the biomass, e.g., lignans, may be gasified to form hydrogen that may be used in the hydrogenation step of the present invention. Exemplary fermentation processes for forming acetic acid are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,509,180; 6,927,048; 7,074,603; 7,507,562; 7,351,559; 7,601,865; 7,682,812; and 7,888,082, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference. See also US Publ. Nos. 2008/0193989 and 2009/0281354, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Examples of biomass include, but are not limited to, agricultural wastes, forest products, grasses, and other cellulosic material, timber harvesting residues, softwood chips, hardwood chips, tree branches, tree stumps, leaves, bark, sawdust, off-spec paper pulp, corn, corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, miscanthus, animal manure, municipal garbage, municipal sewage, commercial waste, grape pumice, almond shells, pecan shells, coconut shells, coffee grounds, grass pellets, hay pellets, wood pellets, cardboard, paper, plastic, and cloth. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,253, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. Another biomass source is black liquor, a thick, dark liquid that is a byproduct of the Kraft process for transforming wood into pulp, which is then dried to make paper. Black liquor is an aqueous solution of lignin residues, hemicellulose, and inorganic chemicals.

U.S. Pat. No. RE 35,377, also incorporated herein by reference, provides a method for the production of methanol by converting carbonaceous materials such as oil, coal, natural gas and biomass materials. The process includes hydrogasification of solid and/or liquid carbonaceous materials to obtain a process gas which is steam pyrolized with additional natural gas to form synthesis gas. The syngas is converted to methanol which may be carbonylated to acetic acid. The method likewise produces hydrogen which may be used in connection with this invention as noted above. U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,111, which discloses a process for converting waste biomass through gasification into synthesis gas, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,754, which discloses a method for the production of a hydrogen-containing gas composition, such as a synthesis gas including hydrogen and carbon monoxide, are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Alternatively, acetic acid in vapor form may be taken directly as crude product from the flash vessel of a methanol carbonylation unit of the class described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,657,078, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. The crude vapor product, for example, may be fed directly to the ethanol synthesis reaction zones of the present invention without the need for condensing the acetic acid and light ends or removing water, saving overall processing costs.

Depending on the crude ethanol product composition from the multiple bed reactor, there may be several different processes for separating the impurities and recovering ethanol. FIGS. 1-5 illustrate various separation schemes for recovering ethanol. The hydrogenation system 100 in FIGS. 1-5 comprises reaction zone 101 and separation zone 102. Reaction zone comprises a multiple bed reactor 103 having a first bed 104 and a second bed 105. First bed 104 comprises a first catalyst comprising at least one Group VIII metal as described above. Second bed 105 comprises second catalyst comprising at least one Group VIII metal, and the second catalyst is different from the first catalyst, as described above.

Hydrogen in line 106 and a reactant feed line 107 are fed to a vaporizer 108 to create a vapor feed stream in line 109 that is directed to multiple bed reactor 103. Hydrogen feed line 106 may be preheated to a temperature from 30° C. to 150° C., e.g., from 50° C. to 125° C. or from 60° C. to 115° C. Hydrogen feed line 106 may be fed at a pressure from 1300 kPa to 3100 kPa, e.g., from 1500 kPa to 2800 kPa, or 1700 kPa to 2600 kPa. Reactant in line 107 may comprise acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate. In one embodiment, reactant in line 107 comprises greater than 95 wt. % acetic acid. In another embodiment, reactant in line 107 comprises from 5 to 40 wt. % ethyl acetate and 60 to 95 wt. % acetic acid, and more preferably from 5 to 30 wt. % ethyl acetate and 70 to 95 wt. % acetic acid. The acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate may be recycled from within system 100 or is fresh. In one embodiment, lines 106 and 107 may be combined and jointly fed to vaporizer 108 to form a vapor feed stream in line 109. The temperature of vapor feed stream in line 109 is preferably from 100° C. to 350° C., e.g., from 120° C. to 310° C. or from 150° C. to 300° C. Any feed that is not vaporized is removed from vaporizer 108 in blowdown stream 110 and may be recycled or discarded thereto. The mass ratio of vapor feed stream in line 109 to blowdown stream 110 may be from 6:1 to 500:1, e.g., from 10:1 to 500:1, from 20:1 to 500:1 or from 50:1 to 500:1. In addition, although vapor feed stream in line 109 is shown as being directed to the top of multiple bed reactor 103, line 109 may be directed to the side, upper portion, or bottom. More preferably, vapor feed stream in line 109 is fed to the first bed 104.

In one embodiment, one or more guard beds (not shown) may be used upstream of the reactor, optionally upstream of vaporizer 108, to protect the catalyst from poisons or undesirable impurities contained in the feed or return/recycle streams. Such guard beds may be employed in the vapor or liquid streams. Suitable guard bed materials may include, for example, carbon, silica, alumina, ceramic, or resins. In one aspect, the guard bed media is functionalized, e.g., silver functionalized, to trap particular species such as sulfur or halogens.

In reactor 103, acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate is preferably reacted in first bed 104 and the reactor stream from first bed 104 is passed along to second bed 105. In second bed 105, the ethyl acetate is preferably reduced to ethanol. During the hydrogenation process, a crude ethanol product stream is withdrawn, preferably continuously, from reactor 103 via line 111.

The crude ethanol product stream in line 111 may be condensed and fed to a separator 112, which, in turn, provides a vapor stream 113 and a liquid stream 114. In some embodiments, separator 112 may comprise a flasher or a knockout pot. Separator 112 may operate at a temperature from 20° C. to 250° C., e.g., from 30° C. to 225° C. or from 60° C. to 200° C. The pressure of separator 112 may be from 50 kPa to 2000 kPa, e.g., from 75 kPa to 1500 kPa or from 100 kPa to 1000 kPa. Optionally, the crude ethanol product in line 111 may pass through one or more membranes to separate hydrogen and/or other non-condensable gases.

The vapor stream 113 exiting separator 112 may comprise hydrogen and hydrocarbons, and may be purged and/or returned to reaction zone 101. When returned to reaction zone 101, vapor stream 113 is combined with the hydrogen feed 106 and co-fed to vaporizer 108. In some embodiments, the returned vapor stream 113 may be compressed before being combined with hydrogen feed 106.

In FIG. 1, the liquid stream 114 from separator 112 is withdrawn and introduced in the lower part of first column 120, e.g., lower half or lower third. First column 120 is also referred to as an “acid separation column.” In one embodiment, the contents of liquid stream 114 are substantially similar to the crude ethanol product obtained from the reactor, except that the composition has been depleted of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and/or ethane, which are removed by separator 112. Accordingly, liquid stream 114 may also be referred to as a crude ethanol product. Exemplary components of liquid stream 114 are provided in Table 2. It should be understood that liquid stream 114 may contain other components, not listed in Table 2.

TABLE 2 COLUMN FEED COMPOSITION (Liquid Stream 114) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Ethanol 5 to 72 10 to 70  15 to 65 Acetic Acid <90 0 to 50  0 to 35 Water 5 to 30 5 to 28 10 to 26 Ethyl Acetate <30 0.001 to 20     1 to 12 Acetaldehyde <10 0.001 to 3    0.1 to 3   Acetals 0.01 to 10   0.01 to 6    0.01 to 5   Acetone <5 0.0005 to 0.05   0.001 to 0.03  Other Esters <5 <0.005 <0.001 Other Ethers <5 <0.005 <0.001 Other Alcohols <5 <0.005 <0.001

The amounts indicated as less than (<) in the tables throughout the present specification are preferably not present and if present may be present in trace amounts or in amounts greater than 0.0001 wt. %.

The “other esters” in Table 2 may include, but are not limited to, ethyl propionate, methyl acetate, isopropyl acetate, n-propyl acetate, n-butyl acetate or mixtures thereof. The “other ethers” in Table 2 may include, but are not limited to, diethyl ether, methyl ethyl ether, isobutyl ethyl ether or mixtures thereof. The “other alcohols” in Table 2 may include, but are not limited to, methanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, 2-butanol or mixtures thereof. In one embodiment, the liquid stream 114 may comprise propanol, e.g., isopropanol and/or n-propanol, in an amount from 0.001 to 0.1 wt. %, from 0.001 to 0.05 wt. % or from 0.001 to 0.03 wt. %. In should be understood that these other components may be carried through in any of the distillate or residue streams described herein and will not be further described herein, unless indicated otherwise.

Optionally, crude ethanol product in line 111 or in liquid stream 114 may be further fed to an esterification reactor, hydrogenolysis reactor, or combination thereof. An esterification reactor may be used to consume residual acetic acid present in the crude ethanol product to further reduce the amount of acetic acid that would otherwise need to be removed. Hydrogenolysis may be used to convert ethyl acetate in the crude ethanol product to ethanol.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, line 114 is introduced in the lower part of first column 120, e.g., lower half or lower third. In first column 120, unreacted acetic acid, a portion of the water, and other heavy components, if present, are removed from the composition in line 121 and are withdrawn, preferably continuously, as residue. Some or all of the residue may be returned and/or recycled back to reaction zone 101 via line 121. Recycling the acetic acid in line 121 to the vaporizer 108 may reduce the amount of heavies that need to be purged from vaporizer 108. Optionally, at least a portion of residue in line 121 may be purged from the system. Reducing the amount of heavies to be purged may improve efficiencies of the process while reducing byproducts.

First column 120 also forms an overhead distillate, which is withdrawn in line 122, and which may be condensed and refluxed, for example, at a ratio from 10:1 to 1:10, e.g., from 3:1 to 1:3 or from 1:2 to 2:1.

When column 120 is operated under standard atmospheric pressure, the temperature of the residue exiting in line 121 preferably is from 95° C. to 120° C., e.g., from 110° C. to 117° C. or from 111° C. to 115° C. The temperature of the distillate exiting in line 122 preferably is from 70° C. to 110° C., e.g., from 75° C. to 95° C. or from 80° C. to 90° C. Column 120 preferably operates at ambient pressure. In other embodiments, the pressure of first column 120 may range from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 475 kPa or from 1 kPa to 375 kPa. Exemplary components of the distillate and residue compositions for first column 120 are provided in Table 3 below. It should also be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed, such as components in the feed. For convenience, the distillate and residue of the first column may also be referred to as the “first distillate” or “first residue.” The distillates or residues of the other columns may also be referred to with similar numeric modifiers (second, third, etc.) in order to distinguish them from one another, but such modifiers should not be construed as requiring any particular separation order.

TABLE 3 ACID COLUMN 120 (FIG. 1) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Ethanol 20 to 75 30 to 70 40 to 65 Water 10 to 40 15 to 35 20 to 35 Acetic Acid <2 0.001 to 0.5  0.01 to 0.2  Ethyl Acetate <60 5.0 to 40  10 to 30 Acetaldehyde <10 0.001 to 5    0.01 to 4   Acetals 0.01 to 10   0.05 to 6   0.1 to 5   Acetone <0.05 0.001 to 0.03   0.01 to 0.025 Residue Acetic Acid  60 to 100 70 to 95 85 to 92 Water <30  1 to 20  1 to 15 Ethanol <1 <0.9 <0.07

As shown in Table 3, without being bound by theory, it has surprisingly and unexpectedly been discovered that when any amount of acetal is detected in the feed that is introduced to the acid separation column 120, the acetal appears to decompose in the column such that less or even no detectable amounts are present in the distillate and/or residue.

The distillate in line 122 preferably comprises ethanol, ethyl acetate, and water, along with other impurities, which may be difficult to separate due to the formation of binary and tertiary azeotropes. To further separate distillate, line 122 is introduced to the second column 123, also referred to as the “light ends column,” preferably in the middle part of column 123, e.g., middle half or middle third. Preferably the second column 123 is an extractive distillation column. In such embodiments, an extraction agent, such as water, may be added to second column 123. If the extraction agent comprises water, it may be obtained from an external source or from an internal return/recycle line from one or more of the other columns.

The molar ratio of the water in the extraction agent to the ethanol in the feed to the second column is preferably at least 0.5:1, e.g., at least 1:1 or at least 3:1. In terms of ranges, preferred molar ratios may range from 0.5:1 to 8:1, e.g., from 1:1 to 7:1 or from 2:1 to 6.5:1. Higher molar ratios may be used but with diminishing returns in terms of the additional ethyl acetate in the second distillate and decreased ethanol concentrations in the second column distillate.

In one embodiment, an additional extraction agent, such as water from an external source, dimethylsulfoxide, glycerine, diethylene glycol, 1-naphthol, hydroquinone, N,N′-dimethylformamide, 1,4-butanediol; ethylene glycol-1,5-pentanediol; propylene glycol-tetraethylene glycol-polyethylene glycol; glycerine-propylene glycol-tetraethylene glycol-1,4-butanediol, ethyl ether, methyl formate, cyclohexane, N,N′-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine, N,N′-dimethylethylenediamine, diethylene triamine, hexamethylene diamine and 1,3-diaminopentane, an alkylated thiopene, dodecane, tridecane, tetradecane and chlorinated paraffins, may be added to second column 123. Some suitable extraction agents include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,379,028, 4,569,726, 5,993,610 and 6,375,807, the entire contents and disclosure of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

In the embodiments of the present invention, without the use of an extractive agent, a larger portion of the ethanol would carry over into the second distillate in line 127. By using an extractive agent in second column 123, the separation of ethanol into the second residue in line 126 is facilitated thus increasing the yield of the overall ethanol product in the second residue in line 126.

Second column 123 may be a tray or packed column. In one embodiment, second column 123 is a tray column having from 5 to 70 trays, e.g., from 15 to 50 trays or from 20 to 45 trays. Although the temperature and pressure of second column 123 may vary, when at atmospheric pressure the temperature of the second residue exiting in line 126 preferably is from 60° C. to 90° C., e.g., from 70° C. to 90° C. or from 80° C. to 90° C. The temperature of the second distillate exiting in line 127 from second column 123 preferably is from 50° C. to 90° C., e.g., from 60° C. to 80° C. or from 60° C. to 70° C. Column 123 may operate at atmospheric pressure. In other embodiments, the pressure of second column 123 may range from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 475 kPa or from 1 kPa to 375 kPa. Exemplary components for the distillate and residue compositions for second column 123 are provided in Table 4 below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed, such as components in the feed.

TABLE 4 SECOND COLUMN 123 (FIG. 1) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Ethyl Acetate 10 to 99 25 to 95 50 to 93 Acetaldehyde <25 0.5 to 15  1 to 8 Water <25 0.5 to 20   4 to 16 Ethanol <30 0.001 to 15   0.01 to 5   Acetal 0.01 to 20    1 to 20  5 to 20 Residue Water 30 to 90 40 to 85 50 to 85 Ethanol 10 to 75 15 to 60 20 to 50 Ethyl Acetate <3 0.001 to 2    0.001 to 0.5  Acetic Acid <0.5 0.001 to 0.3  0.001 to 0.2 

In preferred embodiments, the recycling of the third residue promotes the separation of ethyl acetate from the residue of the second column 123. For example, the weight ratio of ethyl acetate in the second residue to second distillate preferably is less than 0.4:1, e.g., less than 0.2:1 or less than 0.1:1. In embodiments that use an extractive distillation column with water as an extraction agent as the second column 123, the weight ratio of ethyl acetate in the second residue to ethyl acetate in the second distillate approaches zero. Second residue may comprise, for example, from 30% to 99.5% of the water and from 85 to 100% of the acetic acid from line 122. The second distillate in line 127 comprises ethyl acetate and additionally comprises water, ethanol, and/or acetaldehyde.

The weight ratio of ethanol in the second residue to second distillate preferably is at least 3:1, e.g., at least 6:1, at least 8:1, at least 10:1 or at least 15:1. All or a portion of the third residue is recycled to the second column. In one embodiment, all of the third residue may be recycled until process 100 reaches a steady state and then a portion of the third residue is recycled with the remaining portion being purged from the system 100. The composition of the second residue will tend to have lower amounts of ethanol than when the third residue is not recycled. As the third residue is recycled, the composition of the second residue, as provided in Table 4, comprises less than 30 wt. % of ethanol, e.g., less than 20 wt. % or less than 15 wt. %. The majority of the second residue preferably comprises water. Notwithstanding this effect, the extractive distillation step advantageously also reduces the amount of ethyl acetate that is sent to the third column, which is highly beneficial in ultimately forming a highly pure ethanol product.

As shown, the second residue from second column 123, which comprises ethanol and water, is fed via line 126 to third column 128, also referred to as the “product column.” More preferably, the second residue in line 126 is introduced in the lower part of third column 128, e.g., lower half or lower third. Third column 128 recovers ethanol, which preferably is substantially pure with respect to organic impurities and other than the azeotropic water content, as the distillate in line 129. The distillate of third column 128 preferably is refluxed as shown in FIG. 1, for example, at a reflux ratio from 1:10 to 10:1, e.g., from 1:3 to 3:1 or from 1:2 to 2:1. The third residue in line 124, which comprises primarily water, preferably is returned to the second column 123 as an extraction agent as described above. In one embodiment (not shown), a first portion of the third residue in line 124 is recycled to the second column and a second portion is purged and removed from the system. In one embodiment, once the process reaches steady state, the second portion of water to be purged is substantially similar to the amount water formed in the hydrogenation of acetic acid. In one embodiment, a portion of the third residue may be used to hydrolyze any other stream, such as one or more streams comprising ethyl acetate.

Third column 128 is preferably a tray column as described above and operates at atmospheric pressure or optionally at pressures above or below atmospheric pressure. The temperature of the third distillate exiting in line 129 preferably is from 50° C. to 110° C., e.g., from 70° C. to 100° C. or from 75° C. to 95° C. The temperature of the third residue in line 124 preferably is from 15° C. to 100° C., e.g., from 30° C. to 90° C. or from 50° C. to 80° C. Exemplary components of the distillate and residue compositions for third column 128 are provided in Table 5 below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed, such as components in the feed.

TABLE 5 THIRD COLUMN 128 (FIG. 1) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Ethanol 75 to 96  80 to 96  85 to 96 Water <12  1 to 9  3 to 8 Acetic Acid <12 0.0001 to 0.1  0.005 to 0.05 Ethyl Acetate <12 0.0001 to 0.05  0.005 to 0.025 Acetaldehyde <12 0.0001 to 0.1  0.005 to 0.05 Acetal <12 0.0001 to 0.05 0.005 to 0.01 Residue Water  75 to 100   80 to 100  90 to 100 Ethanol <0.8 0.001 to 0.5 0.005 to 0.05 Ethyl Acetate <1 0.001 to 0.5 0.005 to 0.2  Acetic Acid <2 0.001 to 0.5 0.005 to 0.2 

In one embodiment, the third residue in line 124 is withdrawn from third column 128 at a temperature higher than the operating temperature of the second column 123.

Any of the compounds that are carried through the distillation process from the feed or crude reaction product generally remain in the third distillate in amounts of less 0.01 wt. %, based on the total weight of the third distillate composition, e.g., less than 0.05 wt. % or less than 0.02 wt. %. In one embodiment, one or more side streams may remove impurities from any of the columns in the system 100. Preferably at least one side stream is used to remove impurities from the third column 128. The impurities may be purged and/or retained within the system 100.

The third distillate in line 129 may be further purified to form an anhydrous ethanol product stream, i.e., “finished anhydrous ethanol,” using one or more additional separation systems, such as, for example, distillation columns, adsorption units, membranes, or molecular sieves. Suitable adsorption units include pressure swing adsorption units and thermal swing adsorption unit.

Returning to second column 123, the second distillate preferably is refluxed as shown in FIG. 1, optionally at a reflux ratio of 1:10 to 10:1, e.g., from 1:5 to 5:1 or from 1:3 to 3:1. In one embodiment, at least a portion of second distillate in line 127 is further processed in fourth column 131, also referred to as the “acetaldehyde removal column.” In fourth column 131, the second distillate is separated into a fourth distillate, which comprises acetaldehyde, in line 132 and a fourth residue, which comprises ethyl acetate, in line 133. The fourth distillate preferably is refluxed at a reflux ratio from 1:20 to 20:1, e.g., from 1:15 to 15:1 or from 1:10 to 10:1, and at least a portion of the fourth distillate is returned to vaporizer 108. Additionally, at least a portion of fourth distillate in line 132 may be purged. Without being bound by theory, since acetaldehyde may be reacted, e.g., by hydrogenation, to form ethanol, the recycling of a stream that contains acetaldehyde to the reaction zone increases the yield of ethanol and decreases byproduct and waste generation. In another embodiment, the acetaldehyde may be collected and utilized, with or without further purification, to make useful products including but not limited to n-butanol, 1,3-butanediol, and/or crotonaldehyde and derivatives.

The fourth residue of fourth column 131 may be purged via line 133. The fourth residue primarily comprises ethyl acetate and ethanol, which may be suitable for use as a solvent mixture or in the production of esters. In one preferred embodiment, the acetaldehyde is removed from the second distillate in fourth column 131 such that no detectable amount of acetaldehyde is present in the residue of column 131.

Fourth column 131 is a tray column as described above and may operate above atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, the pressure is from 120 kPa to 5,000 kPa, e.g., from 200 kPa to 4,500 kPa, or from 400 kPa to 3,000 kPa. In a preferred embodiment the fourth column 131 may operate at a pressure that is higher than the pressure of the other columns.

The temperature of the fourth distillate exiting in line 132 preferably is from 60° C. to 110° C., e.g., from 70° C. to 100° C. or from 75° C. to 95° C. The temperature of the residue in line 133 preferably is from 70° C. to 115° C., e.g., from 80° C. to 110° C. or from 85° C. to 110° C. Exemplary components of the distillate and residue compositions for fourth column 131 are provided in Table 6 below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed, such as components in the feed.

TABLE 6 FOURTH COLUMN 131 (FIG. 1) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Acetaldehyde 2 to 80    2 to 50   5 to 40 Ethyl Acetate <90   30 to 80   40 to 75 Ethanol <30 0.001 to 25 0.01 to 20 Water <25 0.001 to 20 0.01 to 15 Residue Ethyl Acetate 40 to 100    50 to 100   60 to 100 Ethanol <40 0.001 to 30 0.01 to 15 Water <25 0.001 to 20   2 to 15 Acetaldehyde <1  0.001 to 0.5 Not detectable Acetal <3 0.0001 to 2   0.001 to 0.01

In one embodiment, a portion of the third residue in line 124 is recycled to second column 123. In one embodiment, recycling the third residue further reduces the aldehyde components in the second residue and concentrates these aldehyde components in second distillate in line 127 and thereby sent to fourth column 131, wherein the aldehydes may be more easily separated. The third distillate in line 129 may have lower concentrations of aldehydes and esters due to the recycling of third residue in line 124.

FIG. 2 illustrates another exemplary separation system. The reaction zone 101 of FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1 and produces a liquid stream 114, e.g., crude ethanol product, for further separation. In one preferred embodiment, the reaction zone 101 of FIG. 2, in particular first bed 104, operates at above 80% acetic acid conversion, e.g., above 90% conversion or above 99% conversion. Thus, the acetic acid concentration in the liquid stream 114 may be low.

Liquid stream 114 is introduced in the middle or lower portion of a first column 150, also referred to as acid-water column. For purposes of convenience, the columns in each exemplary separation process, may be referred as the first, second, third, etc., columns, but it is understood that first column 150 in FIG. 2 operates differently than the first column 120 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, no entrainers are added to first column 150. In FIG. 2, first column 150, water and unreacted acetic acid, along with any other heavy components, if present, are removed from liquid stream 114 and are withdrawn, preferably continuously, as a first residue in line 151. Preferably, a substantial portion of the water in the crude ethanol product that is fed to first column 150 may be removed in the first residue, for example, up to about 75% or to about 90% of the water from the crude ethanol product. First column 150 also forms a first distillate, which is withdrawn in line 152.

When column 150 is operated under about 170 kPa, the temperature of the residue exiting in line 151 preferably is from 90° C. to 130° C., e.g., from 95° C. to 120° C. or from 100° C. to 115° C. The temperature of the distillate exiting in line 152 preferably is from 60° C. to 90° C., e.g., from 65° C. to 85° C. or from 70° C. to 80° C. In some embodiments, the pressure of first column 150 may range from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 475 kPa or from 1 kPa to 375 kPa.

The first distillate in line 152 comprises water, in addition to ethanol and other organics. In terms of ranges, the concentration of water in the first distillate in line 152 preferably is from 4 wt. % to 38 wt. %, e.g., from 7 wt. % to 32 wt. %, or from 7 to 25 wt. %. A portion of first distillate in line 153 may be condensed and refluxed, for example, at a ratio from 10:1 to 1:10, e.g., from 3:1 to 1:3 or from 1:2 to 2:1. It is understood that reflux ratios may vary with the number of stages, feed locations, column efficiency and/or feed composition. Operating with a reflux ratio of greater than 3:1 may be less preferred because more energy may be required to operate the first column 150. The condensed portion of the first distillate may also be fed to a second column 154.

The remaining portion of the first distillate in 152 is fed to a water separation unit 156. Water separation unit 156 may be an adsorption unit, membrane, molecular sieves, extractive column distillation, or a combination thereof. A membrane or an array of membranes may also be employed to separate water from the distillate. The membrane or array of membranes may be selected from any suitable membrane that is capable of removing a permeate water stream from a stream that also comprises ethanol and ethyl acetate.

In a preferred embodiment, water separator 156 is a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit. The PSA unit is optionally operated at a temperature from 30° C. to 160° C., e.g., from 80° C. to 140° C., and a pressure from 0.01 kPa to 550 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 150 kPa. The PSA unit may comprise two to five beds. Water separator 156 may remove at least 95% of the water from the portion of first distillate in line 152, and more preferably from 99% to 99.99% of the water from the first distillate, in a water stream 157. All or a portion of water stream 157 may be returned to column 150 in line 158, where the water preferably is ultimately recovered from column 150 in the first residue in line 151. Additionally or alternatively, all or a portion of water stream 157 may be purged via line 159. The remaining portion of first distillate exits the water separator 156 as ethanol mixture stream 160. Ethanol mixture stream 160 may have a low concentration of water of less than 10 wt. %, e.g., less than 6 wt. % or less than 2 wt. %. Exemplary components of ethanol mixture stream 160 and first residue in line 151 are provided in Table 7 below. It should also be understood that these streams may also contain other components, not listed, such as components derived from the feed.

TABLE 7 FIRST COLUMN 150 WITH PSA (FIG. 2) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Ethanol Mixture Stream Ethanol 20 to 95 30 to 95 40 to 95 Water <10 0.01 to 6   0.1 to 2   Acetic Acid <2 0.001 to 0.5  0.01 to 0.2  Ethyl Acetate <60  1 to 55  5 to 55 Acetaldehyde <10 0.001 to 5    0.01 to 4   Acetal <0.1 <0.1 <0.05 Acetone <0.05 0.001 to 0.03   0.01 to 0.025 Residue Acetic Acid <90  1 to 50  2 to 35 Water  30 to 100 45 to 95 60 to 90 Ethanol <1 <0.9 <0.3 

Preferably, ethanol mixture stream 160 is not returned or refluxed to first column 150. The condensed portion of the first distillate in line 153 may be combined with ethanol mixture stream 160 to control the water concentration fed to the second column 154. For example, in some embodiments the first distillate may be split into equal portions, while in other embodiments, all of the first distillate may be condensed or all of the first distillate may be processed in the water separation unit. In FIG. 2, the condensed portion in line 153 and ethanol mixture stream 160 are co-fed to second column 154. In other embodiments, the condensed portion in line 153 and ethanol mixture stream 160 may be separately fed to second column 154. The combined distillate and ethanol mixture has a total water concentration of greater than 0.5 wt. %, e.g., greater than 2 wt. % or greater than 5 wt. %. In terms of ranges, the total water concentration of the combined distillate and ethanol mixture may be from 0.5 to 15 wt. %, e.g., from 2 to 12 wt. %, or from 5 to 10 wt. %.

The second column 154 in FIG. 2, also referred to as the “light ends column,” removes ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde from the first distillate in line 153 and/or ethanol mixture stream 160. Ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde are removed as a second distillate in line 161 and ethanol is removed as the second residue in line 162. Second column 108 may be a tray column or packed column. In one embodiment, second column 154 is a tray column having from 5 to 70 trays, e.g., from 15 to 50 trays or from 20 to 45 trays.

Second column 154 operates at a pressure ranging from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 10 kPa to 450 kPa or from 50 kPa to 350 kPa. Although the temperature of second column 154 may vary, when at about 20 kPa to 70 kPa, the temperature of the second residue exiting in line 162 preferably is from 30° C. to 75° C., e.g., from 35° C. to 70° C. or from 40° C. to 65° C. The temperature of the second distillate exiting in line 161 preferably is from 20° C. to 55° C., e.g., from 25° C. to 50° C. or from 30° C. to 45° C.

The total concentration of water fed to second column 154 preferably is less than 10 wt. %, as discussed above. When first distillate in line 153 and/or ethanol mixture stream comprises minor amounts of water, e.g., less than 1 wt. % or less than 0.5 wt. %, additional water may be fed to the second column 154 as an extractive agent in the upper portion of the column. A sufficient amount of water is preferably added via the extractive agent such that the total concentration of water fed to second column 154 is from 1 to 10 wt. % water, e.g., from 2 to 6 wt. %, based on the total weight of all components fed to second column 154. If the extractive agent comprises water, the water may be obtained from an external source or from an internal return/recycle line from one or more of the other columns or water separators.

Suitable extractive agents may also include, for example, dimethylsulfoxide, glycerine, diethylene glycol, 1-naphthol, hydroquinone, N,N′-dimethylformamide, 1,4-butanediol; ethylene glycol-1,5-pentanediol; propylene glycol-tetraethylene glycol-polyethylene glycol; glycerine-propylene glycol-tetraethylene glycol-1,4-butanediol, ethyl ether, methyl formate, cyclohexane, N,N′-dimethyl-1,3-propanediamine, N,N′-dimethylethylenediamine, diethylene triamine, hexamethylene diamine and 1,3-diaminopentane, an alkylated thiopene, dodecane, tridecane, tetradecane, chlorinated paraffins, or a combination thereof. When extractive agents are used, a suitable recovery system, such as a further distillation column, may be used to recycle the extractive agent.

Exemplary components for the second distillate and second residue compositions for the second column 154 are provided in Table 8, below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed in Table 8.

TABLE 8 SECOND COLUMN 154 (FIG. 2) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Second Distillate Ethyl Acetate 5 to 90 10 to 80 15 to 75 Acetaldehyde <60  1 to 40  1 to 35 Ethanol <45 0.001 to 40   0.01 to 35   Water <20 0.01 to 10   0.1 to 5   Second Residue Ethanol  80 to 99.5 85 to 97 60 to 95 Water <20 0.001 to 15   0.01 to 10   Ethyl Acetate <1 0.001 to 2    0.001 to 0.5  Acetic Acid <0.5 <0.01 0.001 to 0.01  Acetal <0.05 <0.03 <0.01

The second residue in FIG. 2 comprises one or more impurities selected from the group consisting of ethyl acetate, acetic acid, and acetaldehyde. The second residue may comprise at least 100 wppm of these impurities, e.g., at least 250 wppm or at least 500 wppm. In some embodiments, the second residue may contain substantially no ethyl acetate or acetaldehyde.

The second distillate in line 161, which comprises ethyl acetate and/or acetaldehyde, preferably is refluxed as shown in FIG. 2, for example, at a reflux ratio from 1:30 to 30:1, e.g., from 1:10 to 10:1 or from 1:3 to 3:1. Additionally, at least a portion of second distillate 161 may be purged.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary separation system. The reaction zone 101 of FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 1 and produces a liquid stream 114, e.g., crude ethanol product, for further separation. In one preferred embodiment, the reaction zone 101 of FIG. 3, in particular first bed 104, operates at above 80% acetic acid conversion, e.g., above 90% conversion or above 99% conversion. Thus, the acetic acid concentration in the liquid stream 114 may be low.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3, liquid stream 114 is introduced in the lower part of first column 170, e.g., lower half or middle third. In one embodiment, no entrainers are added to first column 170. In first column 170, a weight majority of the ethanol, water, acetic acid, and other heavy components, if present, are removed from liquid stream 114 and are withdrawn, preferably continuously, as residue in line 171. First column 170 also forms an overhead distillate, which is withdrawn in line 172, and which may be condensed and refluxed, for example, at a ratio from 30:1 to 1:30, e.g., from 10:1 to 1:10 or from 1:5 to 5:1. The overhead distillate in stream 172 preferably comprises a weight majority of the ethyl acetate from liquid stream 114.

When column 170 is operated under about 170 kPa, the temperature of the residue exiting in line 171 preferably is from 70° C. to 155° C., e.g., from 90° C. to 130° C. or from 100° C. to 110° C. The base of column 170 may be maintained at a relatively low temperature by withdrawing a residue stream comprising ethanol, water, and acetic acid, thereby providing an energy efficiency advantage. The temperature of the distillate exiting in line 172 from column 170 preferably at 170 kPa is from 75° C. to 100° C., e.g., from 75° C. to 83° C. or from 81° C. to 84° C. In some embodiments, the pressure of first column 170 may range from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 475 kPa or from 1 kPa to 375 kPa. Exemplary components of the distillate and residue compositions for first column 170 are provided in Table 9 below. It should also be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed in Table 9.

TABLE 9 FIRST COLUMN 170 (FIG. 3) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Ethyl Acetate 10 to 85 15 to 80 20 to 75 Acetaldehyde 0.1 to 70  0.2 to 65  0.5 to 65  Diethyl Acetal 0.01 to 10   0.01 to 6   0.01 to 5   Acetone <0.05 0.001 to 0.03   0.01 to 0.025 Ethanol  3 to 55  4 to 50  5 to 45 Water 0.1 to 20   1 to 15  2 to 10 Acetic Acid <2   <0.1 <0.05 Residue Acetic Acid 0.01 to 35   0.1 to 30  0.2 to 25  Water  5 to 40 10 to 35 15 to 30 Ethanol 10 to 75 15 to 70 20 to 65

In an embodiment of the present invention, column 170 may be operated at a temperature where most of the water, ethanol, and acetic acid are removed from the residue stream and only a small amount of ethanol and water is collected in the distillate stream due to the formation of binary and tertiary azeotropes. The weight ratio of water in the residue in line 171 to water in the distillate in line 172 may be greater than 1:1, e.g., greater than 2:1. The weight ratio of ethanol in the residue to ethanol in the distillate may be greater than 1:1, e.g., greater than 2:1

The amount of acetic acid in the first residue may vary depending primarily on the conversion in multiple bed reactor 103. In one embodiment, when the conversion is high, e.g., greater than 90%, the amount of acetic acid in the first residue may be less than 10 wt. %, e.g., less than 5 wt. % or less than 2 wt. %. In other embodiments, when the conversion is lower, e.g., less than 90%, the amount of acetic acid in the first residue may be greater than 10 wt. %.

The distillate preferably is substantially free of acetic acid, e.g., comprising less than 1000 wppm, less than 500 wppm or less than 100 wppm acetic acid. The distillate may be purged from the system or recycled in whole or part to reactor 103. In some embodiments, the distillate may be further separated, e.g., in a distillation column (not shown), into an acetaldehyde stream and an ethyl acetate stream. Either of these streams may be returned to the reactor 103 or separated from system 100 as a separate product.

Some species, such as acetals, may decompose in first column 170 such that very low amounts, or even no detectable amounts, of acetals remain in the distillate or residue.

To recover ethanol, the residue in line 171 may be further separated in a second column 173, also referred to as an “acid separation column.” An acid separation column may be used when the acetic acid concentration in the first residue is greater than 1 wt. %, e.g., greater than 5 wt. %. The first residue in line 171 is introduced to second column 173 preferably in the top part of column 173, e.g., top half or top third. Second column 173 yields a second residue in line 174 comprising acetic acid and water, and a second distillate in line 175 comprising ethanol. Second column 173 may be a tray column or packed column. In one embodiment, second column 173 is a tray column having from 5 to 150 trays, e.g., from 15 to 50 trays or from 20 to 45 trays. Although the temperature and pressure of second column 173 may vary, when at atmospheric pressure the temperature of the second residue exiting in line 174 preferably is from 95° C. to 130° C., e.g., from 100° C. to 125° C. or from 110° C. to 120° C. The temperature of the second distillate exiting in line 175 preferably is from 60° C. to 100° C., e.g., from 75° C. to 100° C. or from 80° C. to 100° C. The pressure of second column 173 may range from 0.1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 475 kPa or from 1 kPa to 375 kPa. Exemplary components for the distillate and residue compositions for second column 173 are provided in Table 10 below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed in Table 10.

TABLE 10 SECOND COLUMN 173 (FIG. 3) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Second Distillate Ethanol    70 to 99.9    75 to 98   80 to 95 Ethyl Acetate <10  0.001 to 5 0.01 to 3 Acetaldehyde <5 0.001 to 1  0.005 to 0.5 Acetal 0.01 to 10   0.01 to 6 0.01 to 5 Water 0.1 to 30    1 to 25    5 to 20 Second Residue Acetic Acid 0.1 to 45   0.2 to 40  0.5 to 35 Water   45 to 100     55 to 99.8     65 to 99.5 Ethyl Acetate <2 <1 <0.5 Ethanol <5 0.001 to 5 <2  

The weight ratio of ethanol in the second distillate in line 175 to ethanol in the second residue in line 174 preferably is at least 35:1. In one embodiment, the weight ratio of water in the second residue 174 to water in the second distillate 175 is greater than 2:1, e.g., greater than 4:1 or greater than 6:1. In addition, the weight ratio of acetic acid in the second residue 174 to acetic acid in the second distillate 175 preferably is greater than 10:1, e.g., greater than 15:1 or greater than 20:1. Preferably, the second distillate in line 175 is substantially free of acetic acid and may only contain, if any, trace amounts of acetic acid.

As shown, the second distillate in line 175 is fed to a third column 176, e.g., ethanol product column, for separating the second distillate into a third distillate (ethyl acetate distillate) in line 178 and a third residue (ethanol residue) in line 177. Second distillate in line 175 may be introduced into the lower part of column 176, e.g., lower half or lower third. Third distillate 178 is preferably refluxed, for example, at a reflux ratio greater than 2:1, e.g., greater than 5:1 or greater than 10:1. Additionally, at least a portion of third distillate 178 may be purged. Third column 176 is preferably a tray column as described herein and preferably operates at atmospheric pressure. The temperature of the third residue exiting from third column 176 preferably is from 60° C. to 110° C., e.g., from 70° C. to 100° C. or from 75° C. to 95° C. The temperature of the third distillate exiting from third column 176 preferably is from 70° C. to 115° C., e.g., from 80° C. to 110° C. or from 85° C. to 105° C., when the column is operated at atmospheric pressure.

In one embodiment, third distillate in line 178 may be introduced into first column 170.

The remaining water from the second distillate in line 175 may be removed in further embodiments of the present invention. Depending on the water concentration, the ethanol product may be derived from the second distillate in line 175 or the third residue in line 177. Some applications, such as industrial ethanol applications, may tolerate water in the ethanol product, while other applications, such as fuel applications, may require an anhydrous ethanol. The amount of water in the distillate of line 175 or the residue of line 177 may be closer to the azeotropic amount of water, e.g., at least 4 wt. %, preferably less than 20 wt. %, e.g., less than 12 wt. % or less than 7.5 wt. %. Water may be removed from the second distillate in line 175 or the third residue in line 177 using several different separation techniques as described herein. Particularly preferred techniques include the use of distillation column, membranes, adsorption units, and combinations thereof.

Some of the residues withdrawn from the separation zone 102 comprise acetic acid and water. Depending on the amount of water and acetic acid contained in the residue of first column, e.g., 120 in FIG. 1, 150 in FIG. 2, or residue of second column 173 in FIG. 3, the residue may be treated in one or more of the following processes. The following are exemplary processes for further treating the residue and it should be understood that any of the following may be used regardless of acetic acid concentration. When the residue comprises a majority of acetic acid, e.g., greater than 70 wt. %, the residue may be recycled to the reactor without any separation of the water. In one embodiment, the residue may be separated into an acetic acid stream and a water stream when the residue comprises a majority of acetic acid, e.g., greater than 50 wt. %. Acetic acid may also be recovered in some embodiments from the residue having a lower acetic acid concentration. The residue may be separated into the acetic acid and water streams by a distillation column or one or more membranes. If a membrane or an array of membranes is employed to separate the acetic acid from the water, the membrane or array of membranes may be selected from any suitable acid resistant membrane that is capable of removing a permeate water stream. The resulting acetic acid stream optionally is returned to the reactor 108. The resulting water stream may be used as an extractive agent or to hydrolyze an ester-containing stream in a hydrolysis unit.

In other embodiments, for example, where the residue comprises less than 50 wt. % acetic acid, possible options include one or more of: (i) returning a portion of the residue to reactor 108, (ii) neutralizing the acetic acid, (iii) reacting the acetic acid with an alcohol, or (iv) disposing of the residue in a waste water treatment facility. It also may be possible to separate a residue comprising less than 50 wt. % acetic acid using a weak acid recovery distillation column to which a solvent (optionally acting as an azeotroping agent) may be added. Exemplary solvents that may be suitable for this purpose include ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, isopropyl acetate, butyl acetate, vinyl acetate, diisopropyl ether, carbon disulfide, tetrahydrofuran, isopropanol, ethanol, and C₃-C₁₂ alkanes. When neutralizing the acetic acid, it is preferred that the residue comprises less than 10 wt. % acetic acid. Acetic acid may be neutralized with any suitable alkali or alkaline earth metal base, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. When reacting acetic acid with an alcohol, it is preferred that the residue comprises less than 50 wt. % acetic acid. The alcohol may be any suitable alcohol, such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, or mixtures thereof. The reaction forms an ester that may be integrated with other systems, such as carbonylation production or an ester production process. Preferably, the alcohol comprises ethanol and the resulting ester comprises ethyl acetate. Optionally, the resulting ester may be fed to the hydrogenation reactor.

In some embodiments, when the residue comprises very minor amounts of acetic acid, e.g., less than 5 wt. % or less than 1 wt. %, the residue may be neutralized and/or diluted before being disposed of to a waste water treatment facility. The organic content, e.g., acetic acid content, of the residue beneficially may be suitable to feed microorganisms used in a waste water treatment facility.

In some embodiments, liquid stream 114 may contain substantially no acetic acid. In FIGS. 4 and 5, liquid stream 114 may be fed to a first column 180 for separating ethanol and ethyl acetate. In FIG. 5, there is an additional heavy column to remove any heavies from the ethanol product.

Liquid stream 114 is introduced to the side of a first distillation column 180, also referred to as a “light ends column,” to yield a first distillate in line 181 comprising ethyl acetate and a first residue in line 182 comprising ethanol. Preferably the distillation column operates to maintain a low concentration of ethyl acetate in the residue, e.g., less than 1 wt. %, less than 0.1 wt. % or less than 0.01 wt. %. The distillate of column 180 preferably is refluxed at a ratio sufficient to maintain low concentrations of ethyl acetate in the residue and minimize ethanol concentrations in the distillate, and reflux ratio may vary from 30:1 to 1:30, e.g., from 10:1 to 1:10 or from 5:1 to 1:5.

Distillation column 180 may be a tray column or packed column. In one embodiment, distillation column 180 is a tray column having from 5 to 110 trays, e.g., from 15 to 90 trays or from 20 to 80 trays. Distillation column 180 operates at a pressure ranging from 20 kPa to 500 kPa, e.g., from 50 kPa to 300 kPa or from 80 kPa to 200 kPa. Without being bound by theory, lower pressures of less than 100 kPa or less than 70 kPa, may further enhance separation of liquid stream 114. Although the temperature of distillation column 180 may vary, when at atmospheric pressure, the temperature of the distillate exiting in line 181 preferably is from 40° C. to 90° C., e.g., from 45° C. to 85° C. or from 50° C. to 80° C. The temperature of the residue exiting in line 182 preferably is from 45° C. to 95° C., e.g., from 50° C. to 90° C. or from 60° C. to 85° C.

Exemplary compositions of the first column 180 are shown in Table 11 below. It should be understood that the distillate and residue may also contain other components, not listed in Table 11.

TABLE 11 FIRST COLUMN 180 (FIG. 4) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Distillate Ethyl Acetate    20 to 80    25 to 75  30 to 70 Ethanol  0.01 to 45    1 to 35   2 to 30 Water <10 <5 <3 Acetaldehyde  0.01 to 30   0.1 to 20   1 to 10 Isopropanol   0.001 to 0.5   0.001 to 0.1  0.001 to 0.05 Acetone 0.001 to 3 0.001 to 1 0.001 to 0.5 Diethyl acetal 0.001 to 3 0.001 to 1  0.01 to 0.5 Carbon Gases 0.001 to 2 0.001 to 1 0.001 to 0.5 Residue Ethanol     80 to 99.5     85 to 99.5    90 to 99.5 Water <20  0.001 to 15  0.01 to 10 Ethyl Acetate <0.01 <0.001 <0.0001 Isopropanol 0.001 to 3 0.001 to 1 0.001 to 0.5 Acetone 0.001 to 3 0.001 to 1 0.001 to 0.5 Diethyl acetal 0.001 to 3 0.001 to 1  0.01 to 0.5 2-butanol 0.001 to 3  0.01 to 1  0.01 to 0.5 n-butanol <1 <0.5 <0.1 Heavies <1 <0.5 <0.1

Without being bound by theory, the presence of acetaldehyde in the crude reaction mixture from the hydrogenolysis reactor may produce several different impurities. The heavy impurities, such as higher alcohols, may build up in the first residue. In particular, 2-butanol has been found to be an impurity in this process. The weight ratio of 2-butanol to n-butanol in the first residue may be greater than 2:1, e.g., greater than 3:1 or greater than 5:1. Depending on the intended use of ethanol, these impurities may be of less significance. However, when a purer ethanol product is desired, a portion of first residue may be further separated in a finishing column 183 as shown in FIG. 5.

In some embodiments, it may be necessary to further treat the first residue to remove additional heavy compounds such as higher alcohols and any light components from the ethanol. As shown in FIG. 5, there is provided a finishing column 183, also referred to as a “second column.” First residue in line 182 is fed to a lower portion of fourth column 183. Fourth column 183 produces an ethanol sidestream in line 186, a fourth distillate in line 184 and a fourth residue in line 185. Preferably ethanol sidestream in line 186 is the largest stream withdrawn from fourth column 183 and is withdrawn at a point above the feed point of the first residue in line 182. In one embodiment the relative flow ratios of sidestream to residue is greater than 50:1, e.g., greater than 100:1 or greater than 150:1.

Ethanol sidestream 186 preferably comprises at least 90% ethanol, e.g., at least 92% ethanol and a least 95% ethanol. Water concentration in ethanol sidestream 186 may be less than 10 wt. %, e.g., less than 5 wt. % or less than 1 wt. %. In addition, the amount of other impurities, in particular diethyl acetal and 2-butanol, are preferably less than 0.05 wt. %, e.g., less than 0.03 wt. % or less than 0.01 wt. %. The fourth distillate in line 184 preferably comprises a weight majority of the diethyl acetal fed to fourth column 183. In addition, other light components, such as acetaldehyde and/or ethyl acetate may also concentrate in the fourth distillate. The fourth residue in line 185 preferably comprises a weight majority of the 2-butanol fed to fourth column 183. Heavier alcohols may also concentrate in the fourth residue in line 185.

Fourth column 183 may be a tray column or packed column. In one embodiment, Fourth column 183 is a tray column having from 10 to 100 trays, e.g., from 20 to 80 trays or from 30 to 70 trays. Fourth column 183 operates at a pressure ranging from 1 kPa to 510 kPa, e.g., from 10 kPa to 450 kPa or from 50 kPa to 350 kPa. Although the temperature of fourth column 183 may vary, the temperature of the residue exiting in line 185 preferably is from 70° C. to 105° C., e.g., from 70° C. to 100° C. or from 75° C. to 95° C. The temperature of the fourth distillate exiting in line 184 preferably is from 50° C. to 90° C., e.g., from 55° C. to 85° C. or from 65° C. to 80° C. Ethanol sidestream 186 is preferably withdrawn at the boiling point of ethanol, about 78° C. at atmospheric pressure.

In some embodiments, a portion of the fourth residue, sidestream or fourth distillate may be dehydrated to form aliphatic alkenes. In one embodiment, the 2-butanol in the fourth residue may be dehydrated to 2-butene. In another embodiment, the 2-butanol in the fourth residue stream may be recovered in a separate system.

In one embodiment, instead of purging the fourth distillate in line 184 or the fourth residue in line 185, a portion thereof may be fed to vaporizer 108. Heavy ends compounds may be removed in the blowdown stream 110.

The ethanol product, either obtained as the second residue in line 182 of FIG. 4 or the sidestream in line 186 FIG. 5, may contain small concentrations of water. For some ethanol applications, in particular for fuel applications, it may be desirable to further reduce the water concentration. A portion of either ethanol stream may be fed to a water separation unit. Water separation unit may include an adsorption unit, one or more membranes, molecular sieves, extractive distillation units, or a combination thereof. Ethanol sidestream may be withdrawn as a vapor or liquid stream, but it may be more suitable to use a vapor stream. Suitable adsorption units include pressure swing adsorption (PSA) units and thermal swing adsorption (TSA) units. A PSA unit may be employed to remove water from the ethanol sidestream. PSA unit is operated at a temperature from 30° C. to 160° C., e.g., from 80° C. to 140° C., and a pressure from 0.01 kPa to 550 kPa, e.g., from 1 kPa to 150 kPa. The PSA unit may comprise two to five beds. The resulting dried ethanol product stream preferably has a water concentration that is less than 1 wt. %, e.g., less than 0.5 wt. % or less than 0.1 wt. %.

In some embodiments the desired ethanol product is an anhydrous ethanol that is suitable for uses as a fuel or as a blend for other fuels, such as gasoline. Water separation unit as described herein may be suitable for producing anhydrous ethanol.

The columns shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 may comprise any distillation column capable of performing the desired separation and/or purification. Each column preferably comprises a tray column having from 1 to 150 trays, e.g., from 10 to 100 trays, from 20 to 95 trays or from 30 to 75 trays. The trays may be sieve trays, fixed valve trays, movable valve trays, or any other suitable design known in the art. In other embodiments, a packed column may be used. For packed columns, structured packing or random packing may be employed. The trays or packing may be arranged in one continuous column or they may be arranged in one or more columns, preferably two or more columns such that the vapor from the first section enters the second section while the liquid from the second section enters the first section, etc.

The associated condensers and liquid separation vessels that may be employed with each of the distillation columns may be of any conventional design and are simplified in the figures. Heat may be supplied to the base of each column or to a circulating bottom stream through a heat exchanger or reboiler. Other types of reboilers, such as internal reboilers, may also be used. The heat that is provided to the reboilers may be derived from any heat generated during the process that is integrated with the reboilers or from an external source such as another heat generating chemical process or a boiler. Although one reactor and one flasher are shown in the figures, additional reactors, flashers, condensers, heating elements, and other components may be used in various embodiments of the present invention. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, various condensers, pumps, compressors, reboilers, drums, valves, connectors, separation vessels, etc., normally employed in carrying out chemical processes may also be combined and employed in the processes of the present invention.

The temperatures and pressures employed in the columns may vary. As a practical matter, pressures from 10 kPa to 3000 kPa will generally be employed in these zones although in some embodiments subatmospheric pressures or superatmospheric pressures may be employed. Temperatures within the various zones will normally range between the boiling points of the composition removed as the distillate and the composition removed as the residue. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the temperature at a given location in an operating distillation column is dependent on the composition of the material at that location and the pressure of column. In addition, feed rates may vary depending on the size of the production process and, if described, may be generically referred to in terms of feed weight ratios.

The ethanol product produced by the process of the present invention may be an industrial grade ethanol comprising from 75 to 96 wt. % ethanol, e.g., from 80 to 96 wt. % or from 85 to 96 wt. % ethanol, based on the total weight of the ethanol product. Exemplary finished ethanol compositional ranges are provided below in Table 12.

TABLE 12 FINISHED ETHANOL COMPOSITIONS Component Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Conc. (wt. %) Ethanol 75 to 96 80 to 96 85 to 96 Water <12 1 to 9 3 to 8 Acetic Acid <1 <0.1 <0.01 Ethyl Acetate <2 <0.5 <0.05 Acetal <0.05 <0.01 <0.005 Acetone <0.05 <0.01 <0.005 Isopropanol <0.5 <0.1 <0.05 n-propanol <0.5 <0.1 <0.05

The finished ethanol composition of the present invention preferably contains very low amounts, e.g., less than 0.5 wt. %, of other alcohols, such as methanol, butanol, isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol and other C₄-C₂₀ alcohols. In one embodiment, the amount of isopropanol in the finished ethanol composition is from 80 to 1,000 wppm, e.g., from 95 to 1,000 wppm, from 100 to 700 wppm, or from 150 to 500 wppm. In one embodiment, the finished ethanol composition is substantially free of acetaldehyde, optionally comprising less than 8 wppm acetaldehyde, e.g., less than 5 wppm or less than 1 wppm.

In some embodiments, when further water separation is used, the ethanol product may be withdrawn as a stream from the water separation unit as discussed above. In such embodiments, the ethanol concentration of the ethanol product may be higher than indicated in Table 12, and preferably is greater than 97 wt. % ethanol, e.g., greater than 98 wt. % or greater than 99.5 wt. %. The ethanol product in this aspect preferably comprises less than 3 wt. % water, e.g., less than 2 wt. % or less than 0.5 wt. %.

The finished ethanol composition produced by the embodiments of the present invention may be used in a variety of applications including applications as fuels, solvents, chemical feedstocks, pharmaceutical products, cleansers, sanitizers, hydrogenation transport or consumption. In fuel applications, the finished ethanol composition may be blended with gasoline for motor vehicles such as automobiles, boats and small piston engine aircraft. In non-fuel applications, the finished ethanol composition may be used as a solvent for toiletry and cosmetic preparations, detergents, disinfectants, coatings, inks, and pharmaceuticals. The finished ethanol composition may also be used as a processing solvent in manufacturing processes for medicinal products, food preparations, dyes, photochemicals and latex processing.

The finished ethanol composition may also be used as a chemical feedstock to make other chemicals such as vinegar, ethyl acrylate, ethyl acetate, ethylene, glycol ethers, ethylamines, aldehydes, and higher alcohols, especially butanol. In the production of ethyl acetate, the finished ethanol composition may be esterified with acetic acid. In another application, the finished ethanol composition may be dehydrated to produce ethylene. Any known dehydration catalyst can be employed to dehydrate ethanol, such as those described in copending U.S. Pub. Nos. 2010/0030002 and 2010/0030001, the entireties of which is incorporated herein by reference. A zeolite catalyst, for example, may be employed as the dehydration catalyst. Preferably, the zeolite has a pore diameter of at least 0.6 nm, and preferred zeolites include dehydration catalysts selected from the group consisting of mordenites, ZSM-5, a zeolite X and a zeolite Y. Zeolite X is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,244 and zeolite Y in U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,007, the entireties of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

In order that the invention disclosed herein may be more efficiently understood, an examples is provided below. It should be understood that this example is for illustrative purposes only and is not to be construed as limiting the invention in any manner.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Catalyst for the First Bed

Table 13 illustrates various catalysts to convert acetic acid to ethanol and/or ethyl acetate in first bed of the multiple bed reactor. The following running conditions for catalyst screening were used: T=250-275° C., P=1400−2200 kPa, gas-hourly space velocity (GHSV)=2500-6700 hr⁻¹.

TABLE 13 First Bed HOAc EtOAc EtOH Conv. Select. Select. Catalyst (%) (mol %) (mol %) SiO₂—CaSiO₃(5)—Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 24 6 92 KA160-CaSiO₃(8)—Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 43 13 84 SiO₂—CaSiO₃(2.5)—Pt(1.5)—Sn(0.9) 26 8 86 SiO₂ + MgSiO₃—Pt(1)—Sn(1) 22 10 88 SiO₂—ZnO(5)—Pt(1)—Sn(1) 22 21 76 TiO₂—CaSiO₃(5)—Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 38 78 22 SiO₂—Pt(2)—Sn(2) 34 64 33 KA160-Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 61 50 47 SiO₂—SnO₂(5)—Pt(1)—Zn(1) 13 44 48 SiO₂—TiO₂(10)—Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 73 53 47 SiO₂—WO₃(10)—Pt(3)—Sn(1.8) 17 23 77 SiO₂—Al₂O₃(7)—Pt(1.6)—Sn(1) 94 21 75 SiO₂—TiO₂(10)—Pt(1.6)—Sn(1) 72 41 59

Example 2 Catalyst for the Second Bed

Table 14 illustrates various catalysts to convert acetic acid and ethyl acetate to ethanol in second bed of the multiple bed reactor. The active metals of the catalyst contained Pt—Co—Sn. A fed comprising 69.9 wt. % acetic acid and 20.1 wt. % ethyl acetate. The following running conditions for catalyst screening were used: T=275° C., P=300 psig (2068 kPag), [Feed]=0.138 ml/min (pump rate), and [H₂]=513 sccm, gas-hourly space velocity (GHSV)=2246 hr⁻¹.

TABLE 14 Second Bed HOAc EtOAc EtOH EtOH Conv. Conv. Select. Prod. Catalyst (%) (%) (mol %) (g/kg/h) SiO₂Si_(1/2)WO₃(12)—Pt(1)Co(4.8)Sn(4.1) 99.4 24.8 96.3 626.9 SiO₂WO₃(8)—Pt(1)Co(4.8)Sn(4.1) 99.3 18.4 97.1 639.4 SiO₂WO₃(12)—Pt(1)Co(4.8)Sn(4.1) 99.4 23.7 97.1 626.2 SiO₂WO₃(16)—Pt(1)Co(4.8)Sn(4.1) 99.7 37.0 96.1 595.5 SiO₂CoSnWO₃—Pt(1.1)Co(3.75)Sn(3.25) 99.5 38.1 96.5 612.5

Example 3 Copper Catalysts

A pure ethyl acetate feed and a mixed ethyl acetate feed that contains 5 wt. % acetic acid or 70 wt. % was passed over different copper catalysts. As shown in Table 15, the deactivation of the copper catalyst was demonstrated by the presence of acetic acid that caused significant declines in ethyl acetate conversions. The feeds were evaporated and charged to the reactor along with hydrogen and helium as a carrier gas with an average combined gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of about 2430 hr⁻¹ at a temperature of about 250° C. and pressure of 2500 kPa. The ethyl acetate conversion was determined after 40 hours time on stream (TOS).

TABLE 15 Ethyl Acetate Conversion 95 wt. % 30 wt. % 100% Ethyl Acetate Ethyl Acetate Ethyl 5 wt. % 70 wt. % Catalysts Acetate Acetic Acid Acetic Acid Cu—SiO₂ 90%  5% −10% Cu (62 wt. %) Zn—Al₂O₃ 80% 40% −20% Cu (62 wt. %)-LSA 80% 50% −25% SiO₂

While the invention has been described in detail, modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references discussed above in connection with the Background and Detailed Description, the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the invention and portions of various embodiments and various features recited herein and/or in the appended claims may be combined or interchanged either in whole or in part. In the foregoing descriptions of the various embodiments, those embodiments which refer to another embodiment may be appropriately combined with other embodiments as will be appreciated by one of skill in the art. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention. 

1. A process for producing ethanol, comprising the steps of: introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a multiple bed reactor that comprises a first bed comprising a first catalyst and a second bed comprising a second catalyst to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first catalyst and the second catalyst are different and each comprises at least one Group VIII metal or oxide thereof on a support, wherein the Group VIII metal is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium; and recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst comprises a first metal or oxide thereof that is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium and gold, and a second metal or oxide thereof that is selected from the group consisting of copper, iron, tin, cobalt, nickel, zinc, and molybdenum, provided that the second metal is different than the first metal.
 3. The process of claim 2, wherein the first catalyst further comprises a third metal or oxides thereof that is selected from the group consisting of copper, molybdenum, tin, chromium, iron, cobalt, vanadium, palladium, platinum, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, ruthenium, rhenium, gold, and nickel, provided that the third metal is different than the first metal and the second metal.
 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst comprises a bimetallic catalyst that is selected from the group consisting of platinum/tin, platinum/cobalt, platinum/nickel, palladium/cobalt, palladium/copper, palladium/nickel, ruthenium/cobalt, ruthenium/iron, rhodium/iron, rhodium/cobalt, rhodium/nickel, cobalt/tin, and rhodium/tin.
 5. The process of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst comprises a tertiary catalyst that is selected from the group consisting of palladium/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/palladium, platinum/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/chromium, platinum/tin/copper, platinum/tin/nickel, rhodium/nickel/tin, rhodium/cobalt/tin and rhodium/iron/tin.
 6. The process of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst converts at least 10% of the acetic acid.
 7. The process of claim 1, wherein the first bed produces a reactor stream that comprises ethyl acetate, ethanol, and acetic acid.
 8. The process of claim 7, wherein the concentration of acetic acid in the reactor stream is from 0.5 to 80 wt. %.
 9. The process of claim 7, wherein the reactor stream is fed directly to the second bed.
 10. The process of claim 1, wherein the second catalyst is substantially free of copper.
 11. The process of claim 1, wherein the second catalyst comprises a first metal or oxides thereof that is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, rhenium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium and gold, and a second metal or oxides thereof that is selected from the group consisting of iron, tin, cobalt, nickel, zinc, and molybdenum, provided that the second metal is different than the first metal.
 12. The process of claim 11, wherein the second catalyst further comprises a third metal or oxides thereof that is selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, tin, chromium, iron, cobalt, vanadium, palladium, platinum, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, ruthenium, rhenium, gold, and nickel, provided that the third metal is different than the first metal and the second metal.
 13. The process of claim 1, wherein the second catalyst comprises a bimetallic catalyst that is selected from the group consisting of platinum/tin, platinum/cobalt, platinum/nickel, palladium/cobalt, palladium/copper, palladium/nickel, ruthenium/cobalt, ruthenium/iron, rhodium/iron, rhodium/cobalt, rhodium/nickel, cobalt/tin, and rhodium/tin.
 14. The process of claim 1, wherein the first catalyst comprises a tertiary catalyst that is selected from the group consisting of palladium/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/palladium, platinum/cobalt/tin, platinum/tin/chromium, platinum/tin/nickel, rhodium/nickel/tin, rhodium/cobalt/tin and rhodium/iron/tin.
 15. The process of claim 1, wherein the support of the first and/or second catalyst is selected from the group consisting of silica, silica/alumina, calcium metasilicate, pyrogenic silica, high purity silica, carbon, activated carbon, alumina, titiana, zirconia, graphite, zeolites, and mixtures thereof.
 16. The process of claim 15, wherein the support further comprises one or more support modifiers.
 17. The process of claim 16, wherein the support modifier is selected from the group consisting of (i) alkaline earth metal oxides, (ii) alkali metal oxides, (iii) alkaline earth metal metasilicates, (iv) alkali metal metasilicates, (v) Group IIB metal oxides, (vi) Group IIB metal metasilicates, (vii) Group IIIB metal oxides, (viii) Group IIIB metal metasilicates, and mixtures thereof.
 18. The process of claim 16, wherein the support modifier is selected from the group consisting of TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, Al₂O₃, B₂O₃, P₂O₅, Sb₂O₃, WO₃, MoO₃, Fe₂O₃, Cr₂O₃, V₂O₅, MnO₂, CuO, CO₂O₃, and Bi₂O₃.
 19. The process of claim 1, wherein the reaction in the multiple bed reactor is performed in a vapor phase at a temperature from 125° C. to 350° C., a pressure of 10 kPa to 3000 kPa, and a hydrogen to acetic acid mole ratio of greater than 4:1.
 20. The process of claim 1, wherein the first bed has a volume that is larger than the second bed.
 21. The process of claim 1, further comprising gasifying a carbonaceous material to produce the feed stream, wherein the carbonaceous material is selected from the group consisting of oil, coal, natural gas and biomass.
 22. A process for producing ethanol, comprising the steps of: introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a multiple bed reactor that comprises a first bed comprising a first catalyst and a second bed comprising a second catalyst to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first catalyst comprises one or more active metals on a first support, and the second catalyst comprises at least one Group VIII metal or an oxide thereof on a second support that comprises tungsten or an oxide thereof, wherein the Group VIII metal is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium, osmium, and iridium, provided that the first catalyst is different from the second catalyst; and recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.
 23. The process of claim 22, wherein the first support is selected from the group consisting of silica, silica/alumina, calcium metasilicate, pyrogenic silica, and high purity silica.
 24. The process of claim 23, wherein the first support further comprises a first support modifier selected from the group consisting of selected from the group consisting of (i) alkaline earth metal oxides, (ii) alkali metal oxides, (iii) alkaline earth metal metasilicates, (iv) alkali metal metasilicates, (v) Group IIB metal oxides, (vi) Group IIB metal metasilicates, (vii) Group IIIB metal oxides, (viii) Group IIIB metal metasilicates, and mixtures thereof.
 25. The process of claim 24, wherein the first support modifier is calcium metasilicate.
 26. The process of claim 22, wherein the one or more active metals of the first catalyst are selected from the group consisting of cobalt, copper, gold, iron, nickel, palladium, platinum, iridium, osmium, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, tin, zinc, lanthanum, cerium, manganese, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, and oxides thereof.
 27. The process of claim 22, wherein the second support further comprises cobalt and/or tin.
 28. The process of claim 22, wherein the second catalyst is substantially free of copper.
 29. A process for producing ethanol, comprising the steps of: introducing acetic acid and hydrogen into a first bed of a multiple bed reactor to produce a reaction stream that comprises acetic acid, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and hydrogen; introducing the reaction stream into a second bed of the multiple bed reactor to produce a crude ethanol product, wherein the first bed comprises a first catalyst and the second bed comprises a second catalyst that is different from the first catalyst and the second catalyst is substantially free of copper; and recovering ethanol from the crude ethanol product in one or more columns.
 30. The process of claim 28, wherein the concentration of acetic acid in the reactor stream is from 0.5 to 80 wt. %.
 31. The process of claim 28, wherein the reactor stream is fed directly to the second bed. 